SURRENDERING THROUGH SERVING

BY ELDER KELVIN ZHU

Some of you will know that I am with the SAF. To a professional soldier, the term “surrendering” is never in the dictionary. “Surrender” is a battle term. It implies giving up all of one’s rights, laying down the arms, and letting the superior party take control. 

However, to believers in Christ, surrendering to God is one of the first acts we must do in coming to salvation. It should also be an ongoing habit of those walking in Christ. In a spiritual sense, to surrender means to completely set aside our own plans and eagerly seek God’s plan.

We have just past the midpoint of Lent. The season of Lent helps us connect with the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also a period of surrendering, giving up “something”, repenting of sin and consecrating oneself to Christ. In this week’s reflection, I would like to focus on surrendering ourselves through our service to Him and His work in His kingdom on earth. Let me share three stories from my personal experience in serving Him.

Surrender and trust God. Since young, I had never wanted to be a teacher and never liked to teach. But as a young first-generation believer, guess what was the first ministry that I was called to serve?  I became a Sunday School teacher. To me, tongue in cheek, God is a humorous God. He knows that I hate to teach but He chose to place me in this very ministry that I, by my own inclination, would have stayed away from. When I look back over the years of teaching, there had been many circumstances when the Holy Spirit led and used me as His vessel to deliver God’s truth to the children. At the end of the class, I would, at times, wonder to myself what had just happened. I learnt that the Holy Spirit was in control. And when we surrender and entrust ourselves to God, we leave room for Him to work exceedingly abundantly in our lives.

Surrender and seek first His kingdom. When I was first asked to be in the leadership as a Deacon about 10 years ago, there were many uncertainties in my life—family with very young kids, finances, hectic work, balancing with ministry work. However, God sent Elder Ang Jing Chai to visit me, together with a couple of other leaders. Elder Ang reminded me of Jesus’ words in Matthew, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” I remember our conversation till this day, and hold these words close to my heart. There are so many things beyond our control, but as long as we seek the things of God as a priority, there is no need to keep worrying. He will take care of our priorities as He has promised. But remember, this is not a transaction. The Bible did not say “seek first His Kingdom, so that He can take care of the other things for me.”

Surrender your spiritual gifts. There is no magic formula or definitive test that can tell us what our spiritual gifts are. When God calls us to serve, He will equip us with the necessary gift(s) for that which He has called us to. Identifying our spiritual gifts can be done in various ways. The one person who knows what are our spiritual gifts is the Gift-Giver Himself. Be still while waiting for your gifts to be revealed.  Verify them through your serving, through confirmation from others, and through your prayer to God. In my various ministries, whether it is the young adult fellowship, marriage counselling, or even in the Board of Glory Kindergarten, I am thankful for the prompts and nudges of others. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10). Avail ourselves and surrender our spiritual gifts to serve Him.

Are you surrendering yourself in service to God? Is there a ministry in which you are already serving? If not, don’t wait any longer. Use this season of Lent to talk to one of the GPC leaders and we can find you a ministry that we can serve together. You may also submit your interest through the GPC website https://glorypresbyterian.net/ministry-awareness/. Surrender in obedience to Him!