Paul talks to us in many scenarios today, but in each, he is speaking against pride.
That was probably not a popular message in his time. But wow... it's REALLY not popular today! "Submitting to authority" is not something Americans like the sound of. Women submitting to their husbands sounds like something from bygone days. And what about the admonition for slaves to obey their masters?
What it comes down to is pride. The stiff necked, I'm not taking orders from ANYONE mentality is what pushes us away from God, and puts ourselves on the throne of king of our own lives. To many, that sounds great. "I'm in charge of my life. No one tells me what to do."
But how small that is. Pride sounds like it's fantastic - the freedom to make your own decisions about everything. But it just means you'll never amount to more than what you can come up with... and that's not very much, especially when you compare it to what God has in store for you.
Submission isn't an easy thing to accept. It goes against the grain of our culture. It means acknowledging that we need someone besides ourselves. But, in reality, it's freeing. It frees us from the limits of our own sovereignty... and gives us the chance to follow Someone whose plans are so much higher than ours (which, incidentally, is our reading from Isaiah today) that we can't begin to imagine them.
Thank You, God, for teaching us the freedom of submission.
2 comments:
Known to be the ferocious of all creatures.....the lion.....CS Lewis used this animal in his tales of Narnia to be the great protector......hummmmm, very deep and a group of lions is a "pride." Destroying anything that challenges it, now was he talking about the lion or the "pride?" God help me to be humble and focused on you not on my prideful self.
I'm a good example of what you're talking about. I used to be very prideful until I was beat down a couple of times until I accepted God's will in my life. He knows what He wants you to do. When you finally become moldable, He will open doors for you and provide what you need to accomplish His plan for you. The rewards are far more than you could accomplish on your own. I won't go into all the details of it all, but I felt compelled to tell you this.
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