Effortless Part 3: Strive and Surrender
I believe that Christian leaders can live with impact beyond their human effort because of the power of God working in and through them. When their focus is on glorifying God, Christian leaders can experience exponential fruit. As we are seeing in this series of articles, it is often in the tension of seeming paradoxes that we find the key to leading with exponential impact.
Luis Palau (1934-2021) was an Argentinian evangelist who shared the Gospel with more than 25 million people in over 70 nations.[1] He embodied the effortless paradigm: he had an exponential impact beyond his human effort which brought much glory to God. In his 2019 book, effectively a memoir written in conversation with Paul J Pastor after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Palau speaks of a point early in his ministry when he had almost burned out and was seeing his labours no longer bear fruit. He shares:
“I had reached the end of my efforts, knowing that for all my trying, I was not really pleasing God. He wanted more than just my natural gifting or commitment. He wanted me. For the first time in my life, I thought that I knew what it might mean to surrender to Him.”[2]
The point where Luis Palau’s ministry began to have an exponential impact was when he reached the end of his own efforts and completely surrendered to God. Surrendering is not normally an image associated with leadership. Surrender is usually seen as a sign of defeat. Modern leadership gurus are reluctant to speak about defeat. This would be seen as a weakness. However, within the effortless paradigm of leadership, we see that surrendering is the key that unlocks true spiritual strength.
Another Christian leader who has a global ministry is Nick Vujicic. Uninhibited by having no arms or legs, Vujicic’s ministry, Life without Limbs, estimates that they have shared the gospel with more than 733 million people since 2005. In his book, Unstoppable, Vujicic helps us understand why surrendering is so critical for Christian leaders who seek to operate in the effortless paradigm:
“Surrendering is about giving up the illusion that you are in the driver’s seat…it is an illusion to think you can determine what happens to you and around you… I believe that when you surrender your life in full, with complete trust and patience, there is another great reward that comes your way: God’s strength… surrender brings strength.”[3]
Therefore, a biblical view of surrendering is that it’s not a passive act of defeat. Rather, it is an active choice to commit oneself fully to Christ. The decision to surrender fully to Jesus is the means through which we receive spiritual strength. As Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Mt. 16:25).
It is in Paul’s example of leadership that we learn what it means to truly live a surrendered life. Paul was totally surrendered to Jesus. He wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Yet in surrendering, he was far from passive. In fact, we could argue that he was the most active Christian who ever lived. From this platform of surrender, Paul was 100% committed to the cause of the gospel. He was driven by the mission God had given him to see the church established and grow in cities across the world, no matter the extreme personal cost.
In Colossians 1:29 Paul says, “To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily” (NKJV). The word translated “striving” is ἀγωνιζόμενος (agōnizomenos) and means to contend and struggle. It is a word denoting competitiveness, taken from the Greek gymnasium and is a root of the English word agonize. This is effort on steroids as Paul contends for the emerging church to come to maturity in the faith.
The harmonising of surrendering and striving fully comes to bear when we understand that Christian striving is not for self-gain but for the cause of the Gospel. Christian leaders’ lives are surrendered to a cause beyond themselves, and they strenuously pursue this mission. Heidi Baker, a missionary to Mozambique who has had an exponential global impact through her ministry, says,
“None of us should want to build our own ministries – that is the opposite of what God called us to. We are called in love and meekness to establish God’s kingdom on Earth.”[4]
Contemporary secular leaders may strive for personal success or even a worthy cause. They may make tremendous sacrifices for the noble cause they choose to live for. But what should set Christian leaders apart is that our striving flows from a surrendered life. And when we strive for the glory of God, then, just like Palau, Vujicic and Paul (and countless other women and men throughout history), we can experience exponential fruit for Christ. When we see that fruit, we will realise that our role has been effortless because it has been the “energy of Christ so powerfully working in and through me” (Col. 1:29b NIV) that has accomplished fruit for the kingdom of God.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Palau
[2] Palau: A Life on Fire with Paul J Pastor. 2019, Zondervan, Grand Rapids: MI.
[3] Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action. Nick Vujicic. 2012. WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs CO.
[4] Compelled by Love. Heidi Baker. 2008. Charisma House Book Group. Florida.
