FEBRUARY 7 DEVOTION BIBLE READING: EPHESIAN 5:21-33
The word submission is an interesting word that wrongly applied and wrongly understood leads to all kinds of problems. In the Scriptures we are told to submit to several different things, submit to God...to one another...wives to their own husbands...to the governmental authorities over us...to those who have spiritual watch care over us...to the Holy Spirit...to the Lord Jesus Christ. The word, submit is used all through the Scripture and always has the same meaning, but it may not always look the same. To simplify it, the word, submit means..."to properly relate to." We are called to properly relate to God...to one another…wives, within the biblical relationship with their own husbands...to both the governmental and spiritual authority in our lives...to the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. There are God-given roles that belong to us in our human relationships. These are not established so that we give complete control to them, but to properly relate to them as the Lord and His Word direct.
Sadly, I have seen the word “submit” misused in several realms. In the church where a pastor spiritually abuses his people, declaring that he is, "in charge and everyone must answer to him." I have seen it misused in relation to government, where people are told they must totally submit to government and do what it says, even if it is against what they know to be morally and biblically right. I have seen it misused in marriage counseling where the wife is being abused by her husband, only to be told she must submit to whatever he dishes out. These examples are not the intent of the biblical teaching of submission. It is for sure God has an order in the church, in the society and in the home...these were given for the good of all and not for the personal profit of the abusers. How much greater our world would be if we properly applied every biblical principle, including the principle of submission, in every arena of life.
Please share your thoughts.
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