Adaptability/Mutual Submission

Ephesians 5:21 Submitting to one another out of reverence to Christ

Submission is a word that my flesh rears at. I don’t naturally like submission and the idea of being under someone(s) in my life.  I think this struggle and sin area has really been made evident to me throughout my life and especially here, in IGNITE.  But God calls me into submission of the authority He’s placed in my life to challenge me. Being outwardly submissive and obedient is hard enough for me, but God knows my heart in these things. He knows when I’m truly submitting in my heart and when I do it outwardly but internally my heart burns with resentment.  I recall when I was younger and my mother and I would get into a fight, and I would outwardly obey her and submit to her authority, but I wasn’t submitting internally and she could tell. Then I would be disciplined even further and it drove me positively crazy because she could tell where my heart was in it.

 I can’t help but look to the second part of the verse “out of reverence to Christ” My submission should not only be there externally and internally there, but it should be done with a mindset of reverence, awe, worship to Christ. It should be a thing I delight to do unto the Lord. My submission to Him and the authority He’s placed in my life should be a glorifying act of worship to God. I really have to let it become heart knowledge that we are one body and we’re all under the same complete authority, Christ.   

Application: I will write out a prayer for a joyous heart of submission.