Isaiah describes sin as “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way . . . ” (Isaiah 53:6). Sin is simply wanting my own way rather than God’s way, whereas submission is “being free from the tyranny of always wanting my own way.”
The passage I am reading this morning reminds me that there is a positive way to look at submission. Instead of focusing on what I have to give up, these verse makes me think about what I will gain. They say:
For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. (1 Peter 2:20-23)One thing needs clarification here. Christians are not called to suffer; we are called to be patient when we do suffer. If the world hates me (because it hates Jesus Christ) and treats me in ways I do not deserve, God is pleased when I do not sin or retaliate. He wants me to have the same attitude as Jesus (see yesterday’s post) and say, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). This is submission.
It is far too easy to submit to sin, to insist on my own way. Instead, I must seek the will of God. What my flesh or sinful nature wants always opposes that, so God is pleased when I am willing to suffer, even be persecuted, rather than have my own way and sin.
That being said, notice the last part of 1 Peter 2:23. Jesus “committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” He trusted His Father in that situation, staying under the abuse and accomplishing the single most amazing victory in time and eternity. By submission, He defeated death and the devil, redeemed sinners, and set us free from sin’s penalty and power.
I know that my submission will not accomplish anything that incredible, but who knows what God can do with it? Too many years I’ve tried my own ideas and watched them fail. A new definition for submission appeals to me. It says “Submission is letting God do it.”
Submission is far easier when I finally realize that insisting on my way rather than His way just messes things up or confuses the problems. Even if I get my own way, the cost is far too high. For one thing, God’s will is not done. Horrors.
I don’t always understand the will of God, but I’m finally understanding the folly of wanting my own way. (I know; I’m back to the negative side again.) I also understand that if I want to say “no” to submission I am also saying “no” to a surprise. I might not have a clue what it will be, but God, when “He does it” will always delight me and make it worthwhile.
Today I shake my head at the countless areas in my life where I have held out to have my own way. Some of them have taken years before I finally decided how foolish I’ve been and let God pry my fingers loose. Then He blesses me, at the very least, with an amazing freedom from a bondage I didn’t know had been holding me.
Following in the steps of Jesus may lead to gardens of Gethsemane with weeping, hills off which angry enemies will try to throw me, shameful experiences of being mocked and spit on, or even a Golgotha where I must yield my life, but submission to Him and trusting the One who judges righteously holds promise of joy and of a new life — that can never be taken from me.
No comments:
Post a Comment