Surrendering to God: The “Want to Want to” Dilemma (Part Three – The Surrender Series)

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“Everyone is leaping off the cliff into the soft sand. I really want to do it, too, but I can’t.”

Really? I really want to?

Unless my legs don’t work, no one is believing my claim of “I really want to.”

“I know I need to forgive her, and I really want to, but I can’t.” 

Really? Is it physically impossible to forgive her?

“Officer, I really wanted to obey the speed limit, but I just couldn’t.”

Wow! Unless the car drove itself, he’s not buying that one either.

Of course, what I really mean is, I can, but I don’t want to leap, forgive, or obey the speed limit.

But I sure wish I wanted to.

It’s what I call the “Want to Want to” Dilemma.

The basis for this principle is: 

Man will always do
whatever he wants to do
as long as he’s physically capable
of doing it. 

No matter how much I think or declare that I want to do something, the truth is, I don’t, or else I would, if I physically could.

The only thing holding us back from surrendering to God, then, is our lack of want to.

Our true desires determine our ultimate choice. 

If we haven’t surrendered to God, it’s because we don’t want to. 

We only want to want to. 

That’s the “Want to Want to” Dilemma.

As long as we only wish we wanted to surrender, we won’t. 

We must pass from wanting to want to surrender to God to wanting to surrender to Him.

Then nothing will stop us. 

It’s a simple principle. 

I want to fly like Peter Pan, but that’s physically impossible, so I can’t. 

But, if I had a wingsuit, I’d be physically able.

I could leap off a cliff and soar through the air like Peter Pan.

Since I say I want to fly like him, would I jump with a wingsuit?

No way! I’m terrified of heights, and wingsuits require leaps off ridiculous heights.

As Peter Pan, I was only planning on flying five feet off the ground. 

But I want to want to jump off a cliff in a wingsuit. Those guys are having the time of their lives.

Sadly, I hate the feeling of falling — especially the out-of-control and smashing into the ground type of falling that I’d be doing.

My want to is too weak to leap.

A weak want to also makes it impossible to forgive someone we don’t want to forgive.

We can say the words, but the forgiveness is not truly in our hearts, unless the want to is also there.

True surrender is a matter of the heart.

We can push a person off a cliff, but we can’t push them into surrender.

We can’t even push ourselves.

We can walk and serve in obedience to God, but it’s not surrender if the heart has not joined our hands and feet.

Surrendering to God should be as easy as saying yes to chocolate mousse. [Tweet this]

It’s moving out of the “Want to Want to” Dilemma and into the “Want To” that’s hard.

To move out of the “Want to Want to” Dilemma
into a pure “Want To,” we must:

1. Accept the fact that we only want to want to.

2. Face the hard truth of why we don’t really want to.

3. Resolve the issue(s) by believing the truth of God that overcomes our objections.

The steps are simple, but not necessarily easy.

We’ll have to face some hard truths about ourselves we may not want to face.

The first truth is that we don’t really want to surrender to God after all.

Then we must look for the root of why we don’t want to surrender. (See my post: My Top Ten List of Why I Don’t Want to Surrender to God.)

Once we’ve faced the hard truths, we must humble ourselves and resolve the issues. We must reject the lies we’re believing that are holding us back and accept God’s truth.

Only when we accept God’s truth, will we move into a place of pure want to. 

In the video below, Jeb Corliss displays a pure want to when it comes to flying.

He does something I could never do because I’ll never want to.

He Peter Pans off a tall cliff and sails through the air in nothing but a wingsuit.

My favorite moment comes at 1:40 seconds into the video.

We get a surprising realization of how fast he’s really flying. Yikes!

Like flying in a wingsuit, surrendering to God is a leap of faith that can feel more like a free fall.

But unlike a wingsuit, we’re not surrendering to something we must control.

We’re surrendering to a God who’s able to control our entire lives.

Our job is to stay surrendered, or we’ll likely crash.

Only God knows what’s around the next corner. It’s best to let Him lead.

It may be dangerous and scary at times. But for those who are willing, it’s the purest thrill.

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If you don’t understand what surrendering to God really means, this Surrender Series is designed to help. I hope you’ll follow along. Subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss a single post.

Can you identify the different “Want to Want to” Dilemmas in your life?

What difference will this make to you today?

I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment.

And remember, sharing is caring, so please share. Thanks!!

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Click to Tweet: 

• Surrender to God: Get rid of the “Want to Want to” Dilemma
• Is your “want to” too weak to leap into a life of surrender to God?
• Our true desires determine our ultimate choice. 

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