Failure frequently comes in the life of Victory because there has not
been a complete surrender. Something has been held back. Or we have
been too superficial in our understanding of what crucifixion of the
old self life means. Now our Lord is lovingly ready to meet us when
we come eager for full salvation and willing to make full surrender
to him. He will show us if we ask him, _and wait for his answer_,
whether there is anything that is not wholly surrendered to him. Some
Christians say this matter of surrender is very vague, and they cannot
tell whether they have really surrendered completely. As a matter
of fact, the Holy Spirit is always very definite when we deal with
him earnestly. One woman who said the surrender matter was entirely
too vague for her to know whether she had surrendered, after some
questioning remarked: “Well, of course, I would not be willing to have
my two sons go to Africa as missionaries.” The matter of surrender was
very definite for her and until this Christian mother lays her two boys
on the altar for Christ she will not know complete victory.
Young people sometimes stumble over surrendering such things as
worldly amusements, the theatre, dramatic moving pictures, dancing,
card-playing, smoking. They argue that they do not regard these things
as sins, though others may believe them to be. But surely if we are
facing the question of getting such a great Gift as Christ as our
Victory and very Life, these things are small matters to yield. But if
they are not sins, are they “weights” in the Christian race? “Let us
... lay aside _every weight_, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us” (Heb. 12:1).