Jesus said, "Come to me ..." (Matthew 11:28).

In the days before the war with Iraq began, news outlets reported that Iraqi soldiers approached our British allies to surrender. During wartime, this wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but at that point, no declaration of war had yet come! We were still in the process of playing a diplomatically patient game with Saddam Hussein. Because of this, the British army informed the Iraqis that they were too early and sent them home!

What caused these soldiers to surrender prematurely? Five reasons come to mind:

1) They knew they were a weak army.
2) They were fearful.
3) They expected their lives to be threatened.
4) They desired a place of refuge.
5) They were hungry for the freedom our military offers to purchase for them with their sacrifice.

Yet as I contemplate this surrender, some biblical parallels come to mind. We are born with the "want to" to sin. This fact puts us on the wrong side of our battle against sin and places us on the side of our enemy, the devil. What are these parallels?

1) I must be aware of my weaknesses. It is imperative to know the areas I struggle with: criticism, complaining, rebellion, pride, lust ... Not only am I aware of my weaknesses, but I must also know that the Lord is stronger and run to Him to be my strength when I am weak (Psalm 46:1, 105:4).

2) I must be fearful—fearful of being trapped in the enemy's camp, knowing that he has a murderous nature. In fact, a former pastor used to say, "Don't lean on the door of temptation if you don't want to fall in." Staying too close might make me unable to resist my temptations. Fear ... and flee, because Scripture makes it clear that there's no need to fear in the Lord's camp. His perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18; 2 Timothy 2:22, James 4:7).

3) Sin is always hurtful, even life-threatening, if I continue to battle alongside it. The wages of sin is death ... (Romans 6:23).

4) My only option is to run to a place of refuge—to scramble to safety. Again, Scripture makes it clear that the righteous run to [the Lord] and are safe (Psalm 2:12, 16:1, 18:2).

5) Surrender ensures my freedom. Giving in to the battle with sin always causes us to stay in an oppressive regime. Any sin will place us in captivity. Certainly, some sin might be "fun" for the moment, but in the end we lose our joy, lose our peace, and lose the very freedom that Christ died to provide for us (John 8:32,36; Galatians 5:1).

When I first heard the news report about the Iraqis' surrender, my response was, "Oh ..." How sad for the soldiers who wanted to surrender and were turned away! Here's where this analogy breaks down. That would never be God's response. You can never be too early to surrender to Him ... in fact, the earlier, the better!

--Peggy Forrest

Early surrender ensures our freedom!

© 2003 Kingdom Building Ministries.