“The measure of your submission is the measure
of your spirituality.”
— Rev. Ray Brown
“Mutually submit to one another out of respect
for Christ.”
— Ephesians 5:21
Submit,
and do so in any and every situation, and there, in that moment, is
spirituality. This is because to submit
is to quash every degree of pride, and pride is the antithesis of the Spirit.
But
the word “submission” (Greek word, hypotasso)
is not very fashionable these days. In
our prideful era we don’t like the idea that we should submit to anyone, let
alone each other. And somehow we haven’t
discovered that such a position is the root of discontent. Such a position — to not submit readily to
everyone — is unbiblical.
To
submit to everyone — out of respect for Christ — not to appease them, for their sake — gives glory to God. And yet there’s a great deal of power we experience
in submitting in all our relationships.
What Does a Godly Submission Look
Like
When
we genuinely try on this godly submission we find there’s a latent and loving
power indwelt in it, for us and for the person or people we’re interacting
with. The relational dynamic will be an
experience of Christ’s lightness; all because one person decides they bring a
gentle spirit to the conversation.
A
godly submission is a listening spirit, and hence it avails to the moment
patience, poise and power. Yes, that’s
right — in genuine submission (out of respect for Christ) there’s power; a
power because of self-control and trust in God.
The Paradoxical Power for Joy and
Peace
Submission
is a paradoxical power for joy and peace, because we don’t have to force our
way through or defend ourselves; we find that God does that for us. When we decide that another’s needs are as
important as our own, our own needs change, and we find that our needs are
subsumed in the whole — everyone’s needs become important to us. When this is the case, the prayer, “Your kingdom
come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” becomes answered, through
us.
See
how our joy and peace are linked to others’ joy and peace? The paradoxical power in submission works all
the time. It’s a joy and a peace we come
to live with, the more we submit to others.
***
Godly submission
is nothing about being a doormat, yet it’s everything about the power in the
glory of God. Follow me. If I can ‘submit’ within an interaction with
someone sufficiently to listen properly, I help to allay their fears as I
appear present with them in the moment. Their needs are as important as mine are, and
godly submission is respect for that reality.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
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