Submission

With a couple of girls from my DNA group I have been reading through Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes.  It is not the first time I have read it however each time I read it I glean new information.

This week we were unable to meet as a group so we promised each other we would read the chapter and email our reflections in place of being able to have the face to face conversation.

When I sat down to read the chapter and realised what the topic was, I nearly laughed out loud.  

Discipline of Submission.

How could it not be?

I doubt it is coincidental that I have been praying that I would learn humbleness and submission.  I have been praying this prayer for myself for close to 3 weeks. 

Do you know how scary it is to ask Him to teach you humbleness, to ask you to learn submission?  I know that that lesson will not be an easy one.  It was certainly a terrifying thing to pray the first time I prayed with real eagerness.

Anyway, after a quick kudos to God for matching this month's chapter with my current area of desired growth, I began to read.

 

For many people submission is a scary word, it somehow implies being taken advantage of, being powerless, but I strongly believe this is not what God intended for submission to be about.  Thinking about submission in this way is actually a very recent phenomenon.  No bonus points for working out where the change stemmed from.

As Feminism took off the idea that women should bow to no power other than themselves was the new philosophy.  Those women who did defer to any other power were told they were being demeaned and weak. Barbara Hughes says that many of the books that were published in the sixties and seventies focused the definition of submission on the "women's acquiescence to male dominance" (p.33) and therefore became a very offensive idea.

I think there is a very big difference between submitting to man (in the general sense rather than 'men') and submitting to God and yet we do it all the time, in everyday life we submit to others.  We submit to our boss, out parents, our friends, experts, politicians etc. Most people would hate to call it that, however, because of the negative connotations the word submission has.

Submission simply means to give over or yield to the power or authority of another.

Barbara Hughes enters into her chapter on submission looking at what Christian submission means and looks like for women. She says that as Jesus is Lord and we as Christians proclaim this; we need to submit to him, pattern our lives after his and look to him as the authority.  We need to submit to God's loving rule and to God's loving order.

Jesus, as King, commands authority and yet also submits to the Father's rule.  In the same way we submit. He displayed perfect humility, perfect deference and perfect submission. As Hughes said "He knew that all power belonged to Him, He knew where He had come from and where He was going, and He knew His purpose on earth." (p. 36) He had no identity crisis.  He knew how to submit and yet fulfil his purpose.  His submission did not make him weak, powerless or lacking in confidence; in fact the opposite is true.

As we submit to God's order, we also submit to His plan, recognising Him to be the wise, good and powerful God that He truly is. Living within his boundaries is pleasing to God.

So how do we submit to God?  Barbara Hughes gives us 2 pieces of helpful advice.

Look to Jesus

Pray

As we look to Jesus, we see his submission in the Garden of Gethsemane as the perfect example.  Jesus recognised submission was more important than even his own life.  

If we truly want to submit we must pray passionately, as submission will not happen without fervent prayer.

So, the question is, are you submitting to God in all areas of your life.  I know the answer, you are not. But we know that if we don't acknowledge God as the authority in our life then something else will take his place.  So who, or what, are you submitting to?  Is it worth it?

with much love,

Chewing the body of Christ

Chewing the body of Christ.

I didn’t grow up in the church. I was baptised as an infant but my family never attended.  Because of this, much of my understanding of church practices has been acquired over time, through observation, reading or questions.  This includes the Lord’s Supper or Communion.

I understand what is going on, I understood what the bread and wine symbolise but there are some small intricacies that, because I was taught about it as a child, I have had to ‘make up’ or learn along the way.

In the past year, I have discovered on the little quirks, I picked up.  And more than a quirk, I realised it has become a potentially dangerous unbelief.

I feel uncomfortable chewing the bread.

Sounds innocent enough right?  I let the bread melt or dissolve in my mouth and move on to the ‘wine’ or grape juice.  It gives more time for reflection right? It’s probably more holy not to chew Jesus symbolic body.  Except that’s the point.

You see, I feel uncomfortable because I don’t like to admit that my actions have caused the brokenness of Christ. I want to be passive in whole of Jesus sacrifice on the cross. So I don’t chew, I don’t add any more salt to the wounds.

But I am responsible. Jesus death didn’t happen 2000 years ago for other people and I just jumped on the bandwagon later. It happened for my sins now, the mistakes I make on a daily basis.  I can’t lessen the pain that I have already caused him.  I can’t pretend that I didn’t drive one of those nails into his hands.

It’s just symbolic body, but it’s also a symbolic act of wanting to be passive in something I can never be passive in.

It was a shock when God revealed it to me, I wanted to pretend it wasn’t true.  The next time I took communion, I was very deliberate to chew the bread. 

AND I FELT SO GUILTY.

Yep definitely trying to avoid being responsible. Now I take in that feeling of guilt and use it, because I am guilty.  I need to remember that Jesus died because of me.

Because of me.

What a blessing! The significance is so much more when I feel that guilt and responsibility.  I am not going through the motions remembering a past event.  I am praising him, thanking him, begging for forgiveness. Loving him for the way He loved me.

Amazing man.

Amazing God.

Thank you Jesus.  I am so sorry for the sins I commit, for the lessons I don’t learn and the pride I hold when I think I am doing ‘well enough’.  You died for me.  You died because of me.  You died in place of me.  I can never thank you enough. I can never show my love for you enough.

With much love…

Useless

I have been using this word a lot lately, too much. Useless.

I am a useless human being.  I am a useless Christian.  I am useless at prayer.  I am useless.

It’s not a helpful word. Maybe I think I’m being humble, recognising my shortcomings, acknowledging my sins. But it’s not helpful and I’m not sure it’s true. Am I perfect? Absolutely not! Are there things I’m not good at? Absolutely! Is it my fault that I fail at things? Sometimes, for sure. But, useless…

As I drove back from my childhood home to my current residence, I listened to an audio book by John Eldridge “Walking with God”.  In his book, a series of reflective stories from a year of intentional walking with God, he posed a question to himself and God.  “God, how am I going? How do I think I am going?”

As I drove along thinking about this question for myself, guess what word came up again? Yep, useless.

I know that it wasn’t an answer from God (because I was filled with such an overwhelming sense of disheartenment and God tells us that “we will know them by their fruits”.  God does not cause disheartenment, he instils hope!) therefore it must be my thinking.  Ouch, I honestly think that I am useless?

Sometimes we get into a habit of using unhelpful words, be it cursing, using the Lords name in vain, descriptive words, or even non words such as grunts or sighs.  But the words we use both aloud and internally, have a huge impact on us.  As I tell myself that I am useless, I take away my ability to improve, to change, to get any better.  The more I tell myself the less likely I am to make any progress.

No doubt there is also an element of spiritual attack in all this.  The devil does love to jump in on our weaknesses. But I have the best fighter on my side, one who has already won this battle.  I don’t need to listen to that voice that tells me I am useless.

Jesus tells me I am loved.  He sent me His Spirit to dwell within me.  He is by my side always.  How can I be useless if I have the Spirit God inside me? It’s not possible.

As I said, I am not perfect, I have a long way to go before I am truly Christ-like, but I have the Spirit helping me.  I am not useless.  I am able to grow and change with God’s help.

With much love…

Obedience or willful ignorance.

I was recently challenged about my lack of prayer and why I don't seek God’s advice on the things that happen in my life.  It has been something that I have been working on for years.  Prayer is something that I have always struggled with and I am yet to work out the root of the issue however the recently challenge may help to sort out some of my misguided thinking about talking to my heavenly Father.

The answer given to me, that really struck a truth chord, is that I don’t want to know what God thinks or wants of me because then I have to actively choose whether to obey.  If I don’t ask, then I don’t know and (theoretically) I can’t get into trouble for doing the wrong thing.

Sigh

Can I be more wrong?

I am willfully ignorant; I choose not to ask because I don’t want to know the answer.  I don’t like the idea of choosing to disobey when I don’t like what God wants or feeling guilty when know the right thing to do but don’t do it.  Being ignorant takes that choice away; the choice to be (or not be) obedient.

It’s a challenge.  I know I HATE doing the wrong thing.  I LIKE being GOOD. But sometimes that is hard.  The right thing can be painful, hard work or just plain unpleasant. 

Father, I am sorry for avoiding you.  I am sorry that by not seeking after you I am giving myself permission to sin against you. I am sorry that my selfishness has possibly caused pain for others and more work for myself.  Father, help me to seek after you, help me to remember to ask you what you would have me do so that I can follow your will. Help me to choose obedience over willful ignorance.

With much love…