Submitting

One of the most challenging features of Christianity is also the most fundamental: submission.  Submission is so foundational to all of the Christian life.  Godly growth and the bearing of fruit is directly related to our ability to fully submit to the Lord.  When we do not submit fully to the Lord and His will, we will not grow in sanctification nor will we become the people God intends for us to be.  Because of the distinct value and sobering reality of submission, understanding submission will serve to point us to God.

Submission, in its simplest form, refers to yielding to the power of another.  Believers are subject to the Lord and to His will.  This means that we are to wholly yield to God.  There are some reasons that Christian submission is so fundamental.  For starters, the Lord is omnipotent.  Because of this reality, submission should be the natural disposition for believers.  Submission in this sense is intricately tied to the fear of God, that is the beginning of wisdom.

Another reason that submission to the Lord is so essential to believers is a matter of faith and positioning.  When we convert and are reborn because of the work of Jesus applied to our lives, what happens is a matter of submission: we lay down who we are so that we can be made new in Him.  Therefore, an integral part of submission is the recognition that the Lord and His will is infinitely better for us than our own desires and wills could ever be.  Thus submission is not merely an intellectual ideal.

Rather, submission, in its truest sense, requires the whole person.  In this way, we will be positioned to live out the Greatest Commandment, to love the Lord God with all heart, mind, and soul.  Submission is the defining feature of fulfilling this commandment.  Because of the distinct importance and relevance true submission is, taking on the attitude of submitting to the Holy Lord is not an option for believers, it is a requisite posture.

Central to the submission of believers is the recognition that the Lord is who He is.  Being the very King of Kings and Lord of Lords, indicates that He is the God who stands at the apex of all creation.  Being the infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God means that submission, in the truest sense, means that we recognize both who He is and that this knowledge mandates our submission.  Let us then submit fully to the Lord God almighty, and thus be most aptly positioned to receive His love and blessings!