As we perceive that God is real and active in our lives, we have a desire to learn more about Him. As we begin to sense our sinfulness and our need for Christ, we begin to desire a personal relationship with Him. We want to give Him our love, but sometimes there seems to be nothing there. How does this work of conversion begin, and what is our role in it?

Jesus taught that the righteousness needed to enter heaven was greater than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). The righteousness needed for salvation is a righteousness by faith (Galatians 2:15-16, 21). Righteousness by faith is a transaction—the greatest trade that was ever made! We trade our total sinfulness in exchange for Christ’s holy righteousness. This is the only righteousness that can gain us entrance into heaven.

Dying to Self

We receive this righteousness of Christ’s when we give up on trying to obtain salvation by our good works or behavior, and surrender our will to God. The Bible calls those who have given up on themselves “dead” (Romans 6:2). Dead people cannot sin (Romans 6:7). We die to self by being crucified spiritually with Christ (Romans 6:6).

This is an act of surrender, but it is not an actual physical death, nor a death to one’s identity. It is not about being a mindless spineless thing that obeys without question. It is an intelligent surrender of one’s selfish desires and inclinations to God’s revealed will.

No one can crucify themselves. It must be done for them. It is the same with surrender. We actually need God in order to be able to surrender fully to Him. Because He is a gentleman, God does not force Himself on us, or possess us against our will. He asks us for permission first (Revelation 3:20). Jesus spoke of self-surrender as self-denial—a losing of one’s life, giving up everything in order to gain everything.

We all have to die. Our choice is whether we want to die to self and be reborn in Christ, or to die without Christ and forfeit our salvation. When we hold on to the control of our lives here on Earth, we lose our eternal life, but when we decide to lose it for the sake of Christ, we gain eternal life. Self-surrender is not a one-time experience. It’s something we have to do daily (Luke 9:23).

Surrender is God's work in us

And there is life after spiritual death. Romans 6:4-5 tells us that dying to self is not the end. It is the beginning of a new life in Christ. God controls the new life because we have yielded ourselves to Him. Surrender, or giving up, is admitting that we can do nothing. Inevitably, therefore, the work of bringing us to the point of surrender must be the work of God. It is not something we can do for ourselves.

We are controlled either by God or Satan (Romans 6:16; Luke 11:23; James 4:4). The only control we have is to choose who is going to control us:

Unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under the control of the one or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world. It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light (Desire of Ages, 324).

James 4:7-8 tells us how to resist the devil and his control:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

Let God fight against Satan on your behalf. You are not strong enough on your own. Romans 7:18-19 tells us that everything depends on the right action of the will—the power of choice God has given to us; it is ours to exercise.

You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. (Phil 2:13) Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered on Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him (Steps to Christ, 30).

Instead of expending our energies doing good works to earn our salvation, we need to rechannel those energies into spending time with Christ. As we make the choice to spend time day-by-day in beholding Christ, we invite Him to do His work in our lives, and He will lead us step-by-step to the point of surrender. Giving up is possible only when He has brought us to that point.