THE VIRTUE OF SUBMISSION

But Honey the Bible says Submit?"..... "I'LL GIVE YOU SUBMIT 

"Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord."
(Eph. 5:21-22, ESV).

It is interesting to note where our focus is to be placed in regards to our submission. Generally speaking we are to submit to "one another." Yet our focus for submitting is to the Lord. We are to do it "out of reverence for Christ" (5:21) and "as to the Lord." (5:22). The title "Lord" speaks of authority. Christ's authority is supreme, therefore we are to submit to it (see Matt. 28:18; Phil. 2:9-11). Those we submit our service to benefit from it, whereas our focus or reason for doing so is to the Lord. "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." (Matt. 25:40, ESV). Did you catch that phrase? "You did it to me." When we submit in service to one another, it is just like we are doing it to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. How humbling to consider that Christ identifies Himself with us. So each person we submit our service to is actually to the Lord Himself. Equally true is the fact how we treat others, whether good or bad, is as if we were doing it to the Lord Himself. This should cause us to pause and seriously reflect on how we treat one another.

Submission is a double edged sword. It cuts both ways. The blade must cut deeply in the heart of both husband and wife, so all traces of pride, manipulation, control, and selfish ambitions may be slain. Though the husband's responsible for the leadership in the home, yet he should never consider it beneath him to humbly serve his wife in submission and love. Without the virtue of submission on the part of both spouses, there will be a lack of balance in the relationship. One will serve, while the other does not. A truly healthy and lasting relationship can only exist if the husband and wife live according to a symbiotic relationship, not a parasitic one. If the relationship be a parasitic one, it will eat away at the unity and harmony that rules that relationship until it collapses. Submission is the true path to the virtues of unity, harmony, and peace. Submission does not conquer by force, but by humble resolve and compliance. Submission is the brother to sacrifice. Now rebellion against the principle of submission may seize a kingdom for a fleeting moment, by pride, arrogance, and force, but its own lust for power and control will prove its own undoing. The flower of Submission is seen in the favor of its calming fragrant influence that wins a place in the King's court; whereas the hemlock of Pride's foul poison spreads its deadly influence which seals its own fate. Pride's kingdom is only for the moment, whereas Submission's kingdom is eternal.