It comes back again and again. Submit, serve, be subject to. It is not in just one place, it's all over. How can we ignore it? So we look at it again, one last time before we are done with this topic.
Reading this again I noticed a few things:
First, as believers, we are all urged to submit humbly to one another. It is not just wives to husbands, but also husband to wives, and ultimately each one to another. Humility is the norm, putting your needs before my needs. If our model is Jesus, we need to submit to each other as He submitted to the Father and served us.
Second, there needs to be a leader. Leaders are important. Some one needs to be responsible for where a group is headed. In a school, that is the principal. In a business, that is the boss. In the church, that is Christ. In the marriage, it is the husband. It is not us wives. Sorry, it's not. No matter what our opinion is of that fact, it is truth presented. Without a leader, or with multiple people trying to lead at the same time, there is confusion, chaos, and conflict.
Third, husbands are not told to whip their wives into shape and make them submit and serve. Husbands are not told they are more important or better than their wives. Submission is a choice between equals.
And really, what is the other choice? The other option is to do whatever we want to do, careless of the impact on our husbands and children. The other choice is selfish and prideful. And as that model plays out in the family, each member looks out for their own needs. There is inevitable strife and broken relationships. No wonder that a God who loves us tells us to submit to each other.
Fourthly, Paul doesn't tell us to submit conditionally. He doesn't say submit when you are comfortable about it, when our husbands are obviously right, and demonstrate that he has the best interest of the family at heart. No, Paul tells us to submit in everything.
Wonder what he means by that?
I think it means that we should submit to our husbands in everything. And that is hard. Really hard.
Submission, humility, serving one another in love is not natural to us humans. It requires the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Only by the Spirit is this possible.
The good news is Jesus first submitted to His Father. He first loved us so much that He left Paradise and came to the earth to serve us and save us. He was more than our teacher, He did something. Through His death, He broke the power of sin. Through His resurrection, He broke the power of death. Through His Spirit, He empowers us to live in His supernatural way, empowering us to choose the better path. The path of submitting to our husbands, respectfully, in all things.
Father, fill me with Your Spirit so it is possible for me to make this better choice of selfless humility. Remind me, it is the better path, especially when I am afraid. Let me not make excuses and make exceptions but take You at Your Word. In Everything.
And the Spirit makes it possible to submit humbly to one another out of respect for Christ. Wives, it should be no different with your husbands. Submit to them as you do to the Lord, for God has given husbands a sacred duty to lead as Christ leads the church and serves as the head. (The church is His body; He is her Savior.) So wives should submit to their husbands, respectfully, in all things, just as the church yields to Christ. (Ephesians 5:21-24 The Voice)
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