Matthew 26:39; James 4:7; Hebrews 13:17; Titus 3:1; Titus 2:4-5; Colossians 3:20, Romans 13:1,2. These 7 scriptures make great reading for today’s subject. Please note that all aspects of life have been covered. Sometimes the whole female aspect of submission gets blown right out of proportion. Anyone who goes after POWER to rule, instead of HUMILITY to serve others, has missed the point.
Submission is about primary and secondary missions. When someone wants to take over the government by force they obviously think that power is more important! We submit ourselves to Jesus’ authority through His delegated leaders. ALL areas of life are talked about in the bible – from submitting to God and getting rid of the devil, to submitting to authority, as well as children learning to obey. Good to note that children learn obedience by watching you, as well as you teaching them. I’ve seen many parents who regularly ignore speed limits, telling their teenage kids to drive carefully! Food for thought.
The bible also makes it clear that submission is something that Jesus Christ Himself voluntarily lived – first toward His parents and then to the authorities, finally to the church leaders and finally to Almighty God! This means we are not being asked to do something HE didn’t do!“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:3-8
Submission is not a popular concept today. Women want their rights, children want to be heard, and leadership of any sort is subject to criticism and scrutiny! Everybody wants to do their own thing without other people interfering with them. But it is extremely clear this is a biblical principle. There are large portions of the bible that refer to submitting, and it includes people in every walk of life, plus the Lord Himself. If you follow the bible verses I put above, (I found LOADS more BTW!), then our children should be the most protected little beings on this planet.
Ya might want to pause and think on that, when you check out what kind of ads are on TV floating through children’s TV shows daily. I think that knowledge has become far more powerful than protection in our society. Not teaching kids what is wrong leads to unruly kids! And, BTW, “don’t do that please darling” is a waste of breath and time! “If you continue to do that, then I will …” holds the line. Personally I think children need to be protected because their hearts, minds and emotions are vulnerable, and open to wrong influences. The internet has a lot to answer for, because it gives access to bad information as well as good!
I see this kind of protection, available through submission as if it comes from God Himself, through Christ, over governments, then leaders, down through husbands, wives and kids. Things start spiralling downwards when we refuse to submit because we can do it better than they can! Submission is like a series of umbrellas. The big umbrella comes from Almighty God over us – He sent His only Son to save us – that’s one huge umbrella!
Christ’s death and resurrection provides spiritual shelter, the one under that, is our government. Then our church leaders. In our homes … fathers and mothers (parents) need to be in charge because it is part of their delegated authority to protect their children. By the time we get to the children there should be at least five umbrellas over that kid’s head. Which means when they are young they should not have to be responsible for much more than helping out at home, plus they need to learn to obey their parents.
For God’s teaching we have a whole book full of what He would like us to choose to do … voluntarily. There is life in this book, when we read it, if we choose to obey what the Holy Spirit teaches us through it. The most important thing we can teach anyone is how to become like Jesus. Submission is simply a key in that process because, rightly discerned, it is a place of protection. It is not meant to be blind or automatic, instead it intelligently operates under the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and defers to the Lord. It is also not part of a competition to win the right to be in charge! Submission is about serving each other. Jesus Christ voluntarily submitted Himself to serve His Father’s will.
Submission is an act of FAITH, love and deference —not subservience. Human beings may be smart but we all have blind spots – we sometimes need protection from ourselves! It is not just about someone over me being in charge — it is about having authority in whatever place God has given ME! This means it cannot be enforced or demanded, instead, authority is relinquished as an act of trust in GOD’s supremacy. I just want to add that this key works whether you can trust the guy above you or not, because when we submit to them, we do it as though we are submitting to the Lord Himself. They will have to explain their actions to the Lord one day.
You could be afraid you will lose yourself. But the real point is, we are not actually submitting to any one human being. We are submitting to God’s written and revealed Word and He stands behind His word. When I stand in the place of authority God Himself has given me, I can tell the enemy to take a hike and not even blink. You and I are not supposedly giving into an idiot or a tyrant, we are using our faith to reach out into the Spirit and command the blessing that comes from living a Godly life, His way. We look to Jesus, not the human being who thinks he’s in charge.
Remember submission is a series of delegated protective umbrellas, not a LAW to force me to do what someone else wants. It gives me authority in my designated arena. It also means I don’t have to force myself to do things that are clearly bigger than I am! Because of what Jesus did for me, I have a delegated spiritual space, I didn’t have to usurp it, by force or trickery … (like Esau!)… from someone else, that place simply belongs to me. My spiritual umbrella belongs to me and it shelters me. Wandering out from under that kind of protection because I think someone is impinging on my rights is a foreign concept to someone whose whole desire is to serve Jesus. 👋🏻
