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,
