Submission.
It’s a word that has always scared me. The stigma attached to it in this society hovers over us like a grey cloud. And many of the Christian woman I truly believe that in this day and age we are beyond this.
I have begun to realize the places in my heart that need the Lord’s healing hand and His truth, and this is one big area. A part of me fears that if I submit, I will become small. My desires will lose and my good will be forgotten. I have lived in the mindset for so long that if I submit to my husband, I will lose control. And that if I submit to my God, I will lose myself.
But then I realized that I have already chose submission. You see, the second I chose to turn my life over to Jesus, it suddenly was no longer my own. This concept scares people. It scares them so much that they sometimes run from Jesus altogether. Dying to yourself is no small task, and it’s a very narrow road to walk marked with hardship.
But let me tell you, the second you give yourself over to Jesus, every weight you were not meant to carry suddenly lifts off of your shoulders. The moment you give yourself to Him, you experience freedom, joy, peace, and love that cannot be explained. Yes, we submit to Jesus. But once we turn over our wills to Him, He proceeds to make no move that is not for our best. His children’s good is at the forefront of his mind, always. And that’s why submitting to that kind of love, (the unrelenting, unconditional kind) is in the end, the best possible thing for us.
A human husband though, will fail. Handing over that trust holds little guarantee. No matter if he’s the best husband in the world or the worst, we’re all called to the same thing, and this can be scary. The issue of submission is an issue of power.
“Wives, submit to your own husbands as you do the Lord.”
It’s simple. It’s a command. Wives, submit in the same way, even though your husband may let you down. When it comes down to it, this submission we are called to is simply a dying to self like every other call in the believers life. And if I am walking with the Lord, my response to the power struggle will be to submit willingly. God didn’t give us this doctrine to put us in prison; he gave it to us to set us free.
I am called to submit and respect, but my husband is called to love and die for me.
So what does biblical submission mean? What does it look like?
- Submission means that instead of doing what I might do naturally and fight my husband every step of the way, I’m going to show him respect and honor.
- Submission means that out of reverence for Christ, I work hard at doing nothing out of selfish ambition.
- Submission means that as the church willingly submits herself to Christ, so a wife willingly submits to her husband, as a picture of this.
- Submission means that I trust my husband to do right by me and our marriage, and I give him my support. It means I back his decisions for us.
- Submission does NOT mean that I do not voice my opinion or desires.
- Submission does NOT mean that I follow blindly.
- Submission does NOT mean I go against my God.
- Submission does NOT mean withstanding abuse or infidelity.
But the call to godly submission in the end reaps so many benefits for us, and more importantly it’s a sign that we revere our God. It takes the weight of having to be in control and figure this all out alone off of our shoulders. When God gives me a command, I can trust that it is always for my good in the end, no matter how difficult it may seem.
