There are words in the English language that have major negative connotations. Words like "submit" and "remnant" have been tainted by their misuse in cults and cruel religious institutions. Another word that has lost its positive meaning is "obey." Today, the word obey is associated with the vow a woman once made in matrimony, "to honor, cherish, and obey your husband." Living in a culture of gender equality has made such a vow a taboo and associated with rigid traditional beliefs. But to reject the word obey is to our own peril.
Obedience is often cloaked in the form of a master and apprentice. A master issues a command and the disciple is expected to submit to that command without reservation. Being in an independent and self sufficient world, this image is oppressive to the common person. Submission, which is closely associated with obedience leaves a bitter after taste in people's souls. Many women reject the word submit because it denotes a time when the female sex was property and was told to be subservient to their husbands in marriage. But obedience and submission must be reborn. We must unlearn the negative versions of these words and remember what they once meant.
The greatest example of obedience and submission is found in Jesus Christ. The Savior came into the world and for thirty three years lived in Palestine. Then Christ was crucified, but before that he struggled in Gethsemane where he asked for "this cup (of suffering) to pass from him," but then said to his Father, "not my will, but your will be done." (Matthew 26:39). This was Jesus submitting to the Father's Will, which really was Their Will because The Father and the Son are one (John 10:30). You see, "obedience is actually suppose to be between equals" (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest); it is not suppose to be a master and an apprentice, but friends and comrades obeying one another to achieve the goal. Jesus and the Father were equals and thus Christ's obedience and submission to His Father's Will was His own Will because they are both God.
There are always two wills at work in our lives. One is the Lord's and the other is our own. I suppose there is a third will in Satan, but ultimately the devil submits to God's Will (wither he knows it or not). We are called to be obedient to the Lord because inside us is His equal! Jesus is within us and thus when Christ and the Father see us, He sees himself! Therefore our submission to God's Will is to submit to the Will which is inside us. The only hiccup is when we heed the will of our flesh and thus rebel against the Savior in our Soul. God does not treat us like slaves or second class creations, no we have great honor! The Almighty resides within our being like a temple! Because The Triune God is omnipresent, He can be within all Saints and on his thrones in the heavens! Thus your submission to God's Will is also God submitting to Himself because He lives in you! So in this case, the Master is also obeying and submitting along with us his servants at the same time to His Own Will!
Dizzy yet? It is complex, but comforting to understand that Christ is not asking us to do anything He is not already doing. I think women would feel different about the word submit if men were asked to submit to their wives as well; that if it was explained that both most lean on each other and not either male or female should not behave as a dominate egotist. As Christians we need to reclaim these words, they are not oppressive if we understand them more clearly. Submission is not by force, God does not break our legs to make us submit, no he asks for us to willingly submit, to choose in our heart to want his Will over our own and to trust (submit) to Him. Remember that when you obey and submit to God, the Son Himself is doing the same within you.
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