Surrendering in Seminary

The great greatest personal change I have experienced during my time in seminary is to daily surrender to God. Before seminary I went to a summer discipleship program a year or two ago. The program helped change me and I was able to see how to daily surrender and abide in my walk with Jesus Christ. I made this change in all areas of my life and it helped me grow as an individual. This change has given me the strength to mature as a Christian.

Surrendering to God starts every morning when we wake up. God calls us to surrender specific situations in life to him so that he will transform us to his image. When we are going through struggles in life, as Christians we are to daily take up our cross as an act of surrender to God. This process I have learned is through presenting a situation so that God will use it for his glory. The type of surrendering I am discussing is a slow process but it is necessary for God to use us for his glory.

The process of surrendering also has to deal with asking God to use us in ministry. When we daily surrender to God’s will, we are telling him that he is in control of our life. In surrendering to God, we are letting him use us to teaching and making disciples in the church. God’s Holy Spirit is being poured out upon us in the process of surrendering to him. Also, when we surrender to God’s will daily more people will come to know Jesus Christ. Desperate dependence on God leads to God’s will being established through us in other’s lives.

Another area of surrender I want to discuss is surrender when it comes to classes at seminary. When we are in seminary, we need to surrender to God for him to show himself to us through our classes at seminary. In all of our assignments, we need to surrender them to God for his glory and honor. Our class work needs to give glory to God. By surrendering to God in our class work, we are showing God that he is priority in all areas of our life.

Lastly, surrendering to God daily cultivates a God centered attitude in our life. When we surrender to God’s will in our life, we are acknowledging that he is control. By doing surrendering to God’s will, as Christians we therefore make God the first and last priority in our life and he becomes the center of all that we say and do.

By Luke Urban. Luke attends Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. He graduated from TCU in 2010 and loves all things Fort Worth. He is studying to go into student ministry.