Giving Up

When my husband and I were newly married, we got super into the board game Risk. The object of the game is to achieve global domination by strategically placing your army pieces on a giant map, conquering every territory on the board and eliminating all other players. Risk has been delighting players since its inception in 1957. Unfortunately, some of us aren’t as strategic as others and have found ourselves a little less delighted.

After a few straight weeks of playing the game nightly and about as many of my losing, our marital Risk streak culminated in a moment when I (losing, again) reached forward with both hands and swept our armies off the board and across the room. Jordan and I both sat in slightly stunned silence, surrounded by our obliterated troops. 

We don’t really play Risk anymore.

For much of my life I had a bad habit of quitting things prematurely. If I felt I was performing poorly or in danger of losing, I opted out before failure could occur. I gave up.

The Israelites had a similar instinct when they were on the edge of the Promised Land. Seeing the size and strength of their enemies, their response amounted to, “I can see where this is headed. I’d rather quit than lose.” Forsaking God’s plan, they gave up. 

As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, I’ve been thinking a lot about giving up. My old instinct to self-sabotage when I think I won’t measure up still hovers in high-pressure situations (hosting a big holiday gathering, buying the perfect gift, creating a beautiful service for Advent). But I’ve mainly been thinking about a different sort of giving up. 

When the angel appeared to teenage Mary and explained that she’d been chosen to carry and give birth to the Messiah (the ultimate high-pressure situation), she did not opt out. Her response was simple: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38 CSB). She stayed in the game, but doing so required surrender of her plans, her reputation, and a familiar future. 

Surrendering to God’s plan, she gave herself up. 

This nobler version of giving up is found woven throughout the entire Christmas story: Joseph relinquishing his plan to divorce his pregnant fiancée, the shepherds giving up a night of normalcy to investigate a holy interruption, the magi surrendering time and treasure to worship an unexpectedly packaged king. Each of them gave up something personal in cooperation with God’s plan. 

If you look closely, I think you’ll find that the theme of giving up is also woven throughout this issue of Message of the Open Bible. In this piece by Danielle Smith, teenagers in Nogales gave up expectations about what their mission trip would look like and discovered God was already at work in the changed plans. In our feature article about the Spokane fires, Spokane churches gave sacrificially of homes, money, time, and care when their neighbors lost nearly everything. And Jessica Sanford’s Five Things article invites us to give up what we all battle during the holidays: unrealistic expectations, overfilled schedules, and the pressure to manufacture the “perfect” Christmas.

As the holidays sneak up on us again, I invite you to join me in taking a risk (see what I did there?): give up! Not by taking yourself out of the game, but by surrendering the pieces that don’t matter in favor of the One that does. After all, when Jesus was faced with what looked like certain defeat, He knowingly and willingly stayed in the game. Like His mother Mary before Him, He put Himself on the board. 

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46 NIV). Surrendering to God’s plan, Jesus gave Himself up. 

God, show us what it means to give ourselves wholly to you. Let this be a season of holy surrender for us all. 

About the Author

Hannah Bemis currently serves as the editor and director of Message of the Open Bible. She always wanted to do too many things when she grew up, and God has been kind enough to let her do most of them in different seasons. Those seasons have included raising little ones at home, teaching, writing, and staff pastoring, with Hannah’s most recent adventure being planting and pastoring College Street Church in Newberg, Oregon, with her husband, Jordan. After Jesus and all her favorite people, she spends the remainder of her passion on pizza and dark chocolate in equal measure.