April 10, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Find out what pleases the Lord. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. ” (Ephesians 5.10; 21)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Probably the most dangerous and feared word in the human vocabulary regardless of which language you may speak: submit/submission. Consider some possible synonyms: capitulate, surrender, cow tow, obey, deny to name a few. At least those might be some of the worldly synonyms and express that negative connotation the world experiences when challenged to submit or be in submission. In that light, there is a possible feeling of worthlessness, compromise, a lack of control and death. We all have experienced it and considered it. Such thinking allows the focus on “self” to take the priority. We turn the vision of community into a vision of “one.” That “one” is the dreaded trinity of me, myself and I. I don’t think that is the way God sees it or saw it when He was considering the creation of humanity. From the moment of “before I was formed in the womb,” God was crafting the perfect understanding of “submission.” Consider some of the positive synonyms for it: trust, completion, worship, community, uplifting, wholeness and satisfaction to name a few. A focus on these characteristics not only allow us to see God but they overshadow the negative attributes which so easily entangle broken lives.

Having a healthy self-concept allows the brokenness to be healed. It is as much as part of our DNA as the color of our hair, eyes and skin along with 3 billion other genomes which are connected together in order to form human life as we know it. Somewhere in those two chains connected together with proteins and enzymes, there exists the infallible, undeniable and inextinguishable trait of spirituality. We all have one. The desire to be spiritual and to have a “religion” is key and critical to our human existence. It calls out to us, using the words of the Psalmist, “as deep calls unto deep.” (Psalm 42.7) It may seem strange that I see healthy self-concept linked to brokenness. Millions and billions of dollars are spent in the pursuit of healing the brokenness by developing a healthy self-concept. More will be spent when that pursuit is determined in terms of a worldly paradigm. Why more? Because the world’s idea of a healthy self-concept is like a bottomless well. When Jesus connected with the Samaritan woman at the well He had asked for water. There was little doubt that her self-concept was far from healthy. She had a laundry list of brokenness. But, that is not what Jesus saw. What Jesus observed in her was the pursuit of healing. She was trying to attain self-worth through works and relationships with the expectation of a male-dominated relationship (males who themselves did not have a healthy self-concept.) What was of true value in Jesus’ eyes was the opportunity for honesty to rise up out of the well of life. I considered the other day this reflection on “depression”: it is a well we throw ourselves into when we attempt to control everything and discover we control nothing; what little control we have is over ourselves and that seems to be fleeting…without the anchor, buoyancy and balance internally which is Jesus the Christ who is “the way, the truth and the life.”

Hearing this, I can affirm that being in submission helps us not only find ourselves but our healing. When we confess our sins and our inability to ultimately overcome them so that we are not controlled by them and they do not become a legacy we pass on to others generationally, we enter into submission. We are not called to dwell in the introspection of faults and failures, miscalculations and misdeeds. We must be honest with ourselves before the healing can come. How many times have we read where Jesus would ask, “Do you want to be healed” or phrases to that effect. It is when that person confronts the brokenness with the vision and dream of wellness that healing can take effect. Jesus would respond, “It is by your faith that you are healed.” In other words, if you want to see healing you have to see being healed. True healing, however, comes from the inside. It is submitting fears, failures, doubts and anxieties to a source of strength and power which is a part of us but realized best as we recognize it does not come from us. Now submission becomes the introduction to and connection with the God of our salvation. We do not stand on our own nor are we ever truly alone. God is with us. We know the special truth of God being with us in our growing knowledge of Jesus as the Christ, Immanuel (God with us.) And this reality Jesus cemented as a truth for all believers by submitting His own Spirit into the hands of God. He gave of Himself and allowed it to become multiplied so there is enough for everyone. It is a gift that continues to give as we give it to others. And our giving is not that we get in return for that would align itself with self-serving. No, it is finding a well that never runs dry, a cup overflowing from an endless pour that meets the needs of others and collaterally meets our own. That is “serving others” or being in submission.

Paul said to the Ephesian community of faith in Christ that submission is “what pleases God.” Being in community and working to meet their needs utilizing the gifts, talents, abilities and resources of your own life to pour into the life of another. Seeing their needs as far more important than your own even when you might be in a desperate situation yourself. To allow your brokenness to be visible in order to bring to light for others that they are not alone. These are examples of being in submission which we are called to do for one another.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit spoke us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.