Summer is winding down, and so we are we. This week we sailed through week eight of the Lies Young Women Believe Summer Book Club. The theme of this week was disposition. Specifically, we put our disposition toward submission under the microscope. How do you feel about submission? Is it a disposition that you regard as beautiful and desirable, or do you hold it at arm’s length like a stinky sock? I’ll tackle those questions (and show off a very stinky sock!) in the video below. Check it out, and then keep reading. I’ve got a big giveaway at the end of this post!
Your Mission: Submission (If you choose to accept it!)
Submission is a theme laced throughout the Bible. Here are just a few examples from Scripture.
“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me” (Ps. 81:11). "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed it cannot" (Rom. 8:7). "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord" (Eph. 5:22). "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
Because God is good and always has our backs, we can know that the ways He calls us to live are for our good.
Let’s face it; submission to authority is never easy. For most of us, our initial reaction is to turn up our nose, like we are in the presence of that stinky sock I wore on my twenty-mile walk, but God’s Word gives us good reasons to submit with happy hearts. Here are three reasons to submit to others.
1. God calls us to it.
Because God is good and always has our backs, we can know that the ways He calls us to live are for our good. Even if we can’t always see it or don’t understand it, we can know that submitting in the ways God calls us ultimately what is best for us.
2. God modeled it.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before He was to be arrested and put on trial, Jesus gives us a beautiful example of submission.
“My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matt. 26:42).
When we submit to the authorities God has placed over us, we live like Jesus did.
Jesus was saying, “I don’t want to do this! I don’t like it! I want to be in charge here!” But then He chose submission by saying “Your will be done.” When we submit to the authorities God has placed over us, we live like Jesus did.
3. Submission tells a bigger story
Ephesians 5:22 famously asks wives to submit to their husbands, but skip back one verse to see the bigger picture.
"Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ" (v. 21).
Take notice of the phrase “out of reverence for Christ.” Then keep reading for the heartbeat of why God calls us to submit.
"This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church" (v. 32).
Jesus submitted to the will of the Father in order to save us. The Church submits to God’s plan instead of our own. We submitted our lives to God so we could be reconciled to Him.
Submission is a critical element of the gospel. Therefore, when we submit, we tell the world a bigger story.
These are the greatest mysteries of the universe. Submission is a critical element of the gospel. Therefore, when we submit, we tell the world a bigger story. So let’s stop approaching submission like we would a stinky sock, okay? Instead, let’s ask God to change our hearts so that we can willingly embrace the submission He modeled first and then called us to.