SUBMISSION – PART 1
God does not condone abuse. People frown at submission because the general belief is that submission is primitive and always results abusive. Yet without submission, the whole world will be in chaos. Submission is what helps us enjoy sports. The players have to submit to the referee. We submit to the rules of the land. A good example is the traffic light, you submit to the red light by stopping. Submission is part of our everyday life. But, if we will all be sincere, submission is very difficult for human nature. Why is submission so difficult? Submission is foreign to human nature. Human nature does not naturally voluntarily submit to anyone. We may be tempted to say submitting comes easy to some Christians and wonder why this is not true of us. What we need to know is that this kind of submission is done in freedom which comes from our relationship with Christ. It is submission done not in fear or agitation but in freedom.
Sadly, the submission we are familiar with is often associated with fear of penalty. This is the secular submission. People obey the traffic light not because by nature they want to do it but because they do not want to pay the fine. In sports, you are wondering how players are so respectful and submit to the coaches or the referees. It is still the same answer; rules and fear of losing their jobs. However, the biblical submission is the product of what happened to us when the Lord came into our hearts. The secular submission is controlled by rules and fear of men, but the biblical submission becomes a genuinely enjoyable lifestyle because of the new nature of God that we receive at the new birth.
Secular submission is always submitting to one’s superior, but biblical submission is submitting when the need arises, even if it is to a younger person or one’s peer. Biblical submission seeks to please the other person. Biblical submission is serving others, secular submission is serving by compulsion.
“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 42-45.
“For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Luke 22:27.
If we Christians can understand true biblical submission, and emulate our Lord and Savior, what a great joy we will bring to the One who died for us. We will become the light of the world that Jesus wants us to be.
God permitting, we will continue an in-depth study of all the benefits of biblical submission and more of what it entails in my next blog. Practice what you’ve learned today and bring joy to you and your sphere of influence.