(It is important that you have the music for Mission Impossible going through your head as you read this!) I just read the book The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace and it truly blessed my soul. Well of course after it rightly convicted me, since I haven’t yet become trained in submission and actually it is not until recently that I have become remotely familiar with the concept. Ignorance is certainly no excuse. This is further evidence that if you seek Jesus, He will get you the truth, leaving no stone unturned. It is no surprise then as I was talking with Jesus about my lack of submission when the words “submission impossible” came to my mind (the music and everything!). My God surely has a sense of humor. Some people, especially anyone who knows me, might look at my life for the past 23 sassy years and say that submission is impossible, but God’s word tells me out of the mouth of Jesus himself in Luke 18:27 "What is impossible with men is possible with God." Hallelujah that means there is hope for me and for every person in Christ!
Actually it is God’s will and His perfectly designed plan that all of creation submit to the authority placed over it with the end being when Jesus hands the kingdom to God the Father once everything is in complete submission to him (1 Cor 15:24-25). God is so good to us that he even explains it more than once in His Word so we can be sure to get it right now. 1 Corinthians 11:3-4 explains our roles so well so that there will be no question as to who does what, “Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. “ We are further encouraged by Peter, in 1 Peter 2, since he himself was married, he understood first hand about both the husband’s and the wife’s roles.
Whereas Christians agree we are to submit to God and the world generally agrees that children must submit to parents, like the rest of the bitter herbs (God’s word) we don’t like, we just convince ourselves such submission was for that time period and adjust the teaching as needed. (Immediately I am reminded of the wedding vows “to love and obey” which were controversial to the point that they have been watered down or just eliminated to suit the situation or rather keep women happy). Unfortunately, as evidenced by my former attitude, the understanding of submission has become twisted so much so that the woman’s role in life no longer resembles the role designed and described by the word of God. It is even considered “in style” for women not to submit to men, especially a wife to her husband, and I believe that with this malignance has come the ever-increasingly popular movement of men not submitting to bosses, and children not submitting to parents or teachers. (Good example of a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.)
Lately I find myself saying out loud, “I think I am suppose to submit now.” I encourage you to examine yourself and if need be enlist yourself into a “submission boot camp” where you train yourself in godly submission. There are times I think it is “submission impossible” and it would be easier for me to ride on top of a moving subway train in an underground tunnel filled with fire rather than submit. Yet the idea of pleasing the Lord by embracing the role He has designed for me and by the power of the Holy Spirit it becomes “submission possible.” Undoubtedly Jesus is our Submission Super Hero as he was able to submit even unto death making this statement to the Father, his authority, “Not my will but yours be done.”
“Submitten with Jesus”
Mandy Wakefield
