What is the most important time of your work day?
That may sound like a trick question, but perhaps think about it this way: where in your day are the points of greatest leverage? For me, I find that some of the most important times of any day are the points at which I surrender.
The word “surrender” is one of those words that has become vague and abstract in Christian use. We can talk handily about giving our lives to God, surrendering our hearts to Christ, or responding to crises by yielding to God’s sovereign will. Indeed, surrender is an idea with many expressions and applications in a Christian life.
But what does it look like in the ebb and flow of an ordinary workday? Does the rubber of theological generalities ever meet the road of the actual stuff you have to do on your job?
What we often miss is that it’s just as important to recognize God’s presence and power in the ordinary client meeting, tax return, securities trade, or operations policy review as it is when the wheels come off and we go into crisis mode. He comes to meet us there every day. Jesus is just as present, just as powerful, and just as interested in his kingdom agenda in the ordinary as in the spectacular.
The sooner we recognize this and act on it, the better off we are. How do we act on it? We surrender. Yield the moment, the task, the meeting, the phone call, the strategy, the challenge—whatever is in front of you—to God’s agenda as it comes. Honor God and ask for God’s grace, wisdom, and anything specific that you need in the moment. God will give it, and he will anoint and bless it as you allow him to make it his.
It’s not complicated. The follow-through can get messy as we navigate the day, but a prayer of surrender can be very simple. There’s no intricate theological blueprint that has to be followed.
Just take it to God, keep it real, and be prepared to return to a prayer like this anytime you are ready to invite the perfect, loving, almighty Creator of the universe into the task at hand. Here’s a sample idea for starters:
God, whatever you want to do in and through my work here and now, I invite you to do it. Align my heart and mind with your will because your will is perfect. Through every task in front of me, I want to partner with you in what you are doing in the world around me. I claim the presence and power of Jesus in and over my work, and I yield it to you now. In this, let your Kingdom come, Lord.
