BiblicalInsights.net

     Intellectual autonomy is the view that human beings have the right to seek knowledge of God’s world without being subject to God’s Word.  In Gen. 3, the biblical account of the fall records Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey God’s personal word to them.  In their decision, they affirm their right to think autonomously, even to the point of contradicting God Himself.  In doing so, they accept irrationality.  To believe a lie is to reject the truth.  To reject the truth is irrational.  Every sinful decision results from the spirit of autonomy (self-rule) rather than God’s rule in the human heart.  Knowledge of God is suppressed by man in order for him to pursue his own desires.
     In James 4:6-7, James declares, “Submit yourselves to God…”  God has absolute authority over man.  He is our creator, redeemer and judge.  God conquers the human heart through love (John 3:16).  “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:8-10).  We love him because he first love us (I John 4:19).  Conquered by love, the human heart unconditionally surrenders to God.  “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). 
     To be fully surrendered to God means that our will becomes one with the divine will.  Surrender means “to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress.”  Synonyms of the word surrender include: condede, give in, hand over, relinquish, renounce, submit and yield.  Submission to God is easy when the heart is vanquished by His love. 
     The surrender involved is voluntary.  Surrender involves a voluntary placing of ourselves under God’s authority.  We face two alternatives.  The first alternative is God’s wrath.  God resisteth the proud.  God sets Himself in battle array against the proud and arrogant person who resists His will.  The second alternative is God’s mercy.  God giveth grace to the humble.  God’s grace is unmerited, divine favor, freely bestowed for the salvation of men’s souls.  If the human heart is not conquered by divine love and tastes of His divine mercy, then it will face the divine wrath of God.  Both God’s wrath and His mercy argue for surrender.  
     Consider the following thoughts:
     “Lord, thou hast won, at length I yield,
     My heart, by mighty grace compell’d,
     Surrenders all to thee;
     Against Thy terrors long I strove,
     But who can stand against thy love?
     Love conquers even me.”

     God’s love demands absolute surrender because it demands fullness of consecration to God.  Rom. 12:1,2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of  your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”   If the surrender is not complete, then, the devotion will not be complete.  Surrender demands that the spirit of autonomy be vanquished.  Absolute surrender is a condition of fellowship with God.