If true conversion is the first major step in Christian life, what is the second? Or to put it differently, how do people who have become new creations in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) live the new life?

Apparently very few professing Christians know the answer. Barna Research reported in 2011 that “only about 3% of all self-identified Christians in America have come to the final stops on the transformational journey – the places where they have surrendered control of their life to God, submitted to His will for their life, and devoted themselves to loving and serving God and other people.”

I can identify with them. After my conversion I experienced some immediate changes—I cursed every other breath and that went away overnight. I began to read the Bible and pray every day. I wanted to live for God, and I didn’t want to sin. But in certain areas I found myself defeated again and again (Ro. 7:15-25).

It took a while to fully grasp what Paul meant when he said, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Ro. 12:1, ESV).

This verse calls us to respond to God’s grace and love by surrendering our lives wholeheartedly to Him and resolving to henceforth live for Him—to do His will no matter the cost for as long as we live.

Jonathan Edwards expressed it this way:

Resolution One: I will live for God.

Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.

Once we surrender wholeheartedly to God, the Holy Spirit can fill and empower us to live out our commitment and to be daily transformed into the image of Christ (Ro. 12:2) and bear fruit for God.

Have you ever made this wholehearted surrender to God? If so, are you still walking in it, or do you need to reaffirm it? If you have never done so, are you willing to do so now? Or if not, to ask God to help you become willing?