submission

Week 8:  Submission

What fears or anxieties, if any, hinder you from joyfully experiencing the Discipline of submission?

Okay so I am not sure that it is so much fear or anxiety as much as it is frustration and misconception that cause me to avoid this idea of submission all together.  To be quite honest, I have heard too many teachings on submission that just seem to misrepresent and distort what it seems the Bible is really saying.  I guess my fear is that some of these terrible teachings are actually true.  This really applies to the teachings concerned with marriage.  For some reason, I can recall hearing a lot about wives submitting to husbands but not much else in the way of teaching on submission.  I seriously rolled my eyes a little when I saw this title because I am so frustrated by what I feel like the Bible says and what so many people say.   

                Enough soap box for now, the answer to the question above is truly that I am afraid that all of these teachings that put a bad taste in my mouth are true.  After reading Foster’s chapter on submission I breathed a sigh of relief.  The whole idea of submission is difficult but, the way Foster explains it makes much more sense to me.  It is really living life the way Jesus lived.  To “joyfully” submit seems so counterintuitive.  However, when Foster talks about the freedom of not having to have my own way, my eyes were opened.  I had never thought of this as a positive thing, but as I read the explanation he gives, I literally felt the weight being lifted.  Just the idea of being in a place where I don’t have to get my own way seems freeing.   Truly I am slowly understanding that submission is actually living life the way that Jesus lived.  Instead of making it about husbands and wives, I am realizing that it is a way of life.  It is funny because when I think of what I am afraid of and what causes anxiety in regard to submission I realize that I am a little afraid of giving up the control.  I want my way, I want to do what I want and how I want, but I know and have always known that God’s way is always better.  I know His plan is going to be more challenging and difficult, but I also know that His plan is best. 

                I have been trying to do some meditation and study on Psalm 23.  As I was spending time reading this passage the other day, the first verse resonated with me.  Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd I have all that I need.  This verse alone reminds me that even as I submit myself before God, he will provide all that I need.  He is faithful and promises again and again to provide for my needs.  Why then do I fear giving up the control?  Submitting to him and his way of life is so much better.  In regards to worship, the same is true.  I can show up with my set and my plan, but it is so much better when I simply follow his lead.  He knows what is needed, He knows where I am, and sometimes He decides to take things in a different direction.  This always freaks me out, but it is always so much better when I follow his lead.

                Someday soon I hope to know and understand this more fully; to truly give my life up without hesitation or thought to the God that I serve, and to know that He has me.