Hand It Over

To give the gift of self to God in love is to entrust our lives to God, to hand our lives completely over to God. Unfortunately, many of us find this to be rather difficult to do. If God has given us the gift of himself, the gift of his heart, in Jesus Christ, why are we so reluctant to respond with our own gift of self in return? There can, of course, be many reasons, but one of the main reasons is control. We want to be in control of our lives. But to give the gift of self in love requires that we give up some of that control. In fact, we have to be willing to surrender ourselves to the beloved.

Admittedly, the concept of “surrender” often carries with it some negative connotations—connotations like defeat, failure, weakness, etc. But nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to “surrender” in the context of love. Loving self-surrender is a sign of strength, not weakness. Loving self-surrender is actually the ultimate exercise of one’s power over one’s own life. Which requires more strength: to cling to one’s ego throughout a life lived in the self-centered pursuit of pleasure, power, status, etc., or to give one’s self away in love? As André Gide once observed, “Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.” To cling to one’s self is to be enslaved to the self, to be at the mercy of the self’s whims and desires, to be imprisoned within the walls of one’s ego. In contrast, to give one’s self away in love is, paradoxically, to be in full possession of one’s self, breaking out of the dungeon of the ego and into the infinite spaces of the divine love.

Still, the prospect of giving oneself away in love to another, even to God (and for some of us, especially to God), can be frightening for many of us. What would God do with my heart? What would God demand of me? What would my life be like if I handed myself over to God?

Well, in a word…better. Surrendering your heart to God makes your life better because surrendering your heart to God aligns you with the purpose for which you were made. You were made for union with God and your fellow human beings. You were made to share in the divine life of love forever. But to be able to flow within the Body of Christ, you have to be willing to let go of some control over your life. You have to be willing to let go and love. You have to be willing to hand your life over to God.

Copyright 2023 Rick Clements

* This article is an excerpt from Rick’s latest book, The Book of Love: Brief Meditations

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Rick Clements

Rick Clements writes and speaks about the Catholic faith, with a particular focus on the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar and its application to Christian discipleship and evangelization. Rick is the author of two books: The Meaning of the World Is Love: Selected Texts from Hans Urs von Balthasar with Commentary (Ignatius Press, 2022) and The Book of Love: Brief Meditations (En Route Books, 2023), and he also writes articles for Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. He has a PhD in clinical psychology from Purdue University and a certificate in lay ecclesial ministry, and he has taught psychology at several universities. Find more of his work at richardclements.org