Yesterday I started a week-long series on biblical submission in marriage with, Wives Submit? What Does the Bible Say? Today, in part 2, let’s see what the big deal is? If my marriage seems to be working without it, then who cares?
So what if my marriage seems to be working? I propagated that lie in my head for years. But my logic was based on faulty reasoning. My marriage wasn’t working. I didn’t call the best of out of my husband with my gentleness, rather I emasculated him with my challenging, domineering spirit. And I was miserable.
I longed for him take initiative and to lead, but my actions bore much different results. I shut him down and locked myself in a lonely marriage for a decade of my life.
So, who cares? Well, God cares. I have tried to work my way around this. I have tried to excuse it. I have tried to find a reason to negate the teaching. But the truth is the bible says this:
- But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 1 Cor. 11:3
- In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. 1 Pet. 3:1
- And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Eph 5:21-22
- Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. Col 3: 18
So why do I fight this?
There is a little thing that happened in Gen. 3:18 called the curse. Eve was cursed with pain in child-bearing. We can’t deny that one can we ladies? But God also said, “You will desire to control your husband.” Oh! My desire to make decisions, my fear of trusting his decisions, my need to get in the last word, to be right and to run the show is a consequence of the blackness of sin. God didn’t make me that way. Sin did. And sin leads to death.
So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death… For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. Rom 8:6-7
SO, if the God spoke directly on the subject and I refuse what does that mean?
“God will not bless an environment of rebellion. If you are in rebellion to your husband you are in rebellion to God.” – Tony Evans
Living in rebellion to God is a devastating situation that will end up being cut off from God.
Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you… 1 Sam. 15:23
OK, I can read it. I can acknowledge that I fight it. I may even accept that I’m in rebellion if I don’t do it. So why does submission seem contrary to my best interest? Why do I feel so defensive about it? I think it is because Satan, using the feminist movement as a mouth piece, has convinced us that we are weak if yield to another person.
But even feminists yield to other people every day. The most die-hard women’s liber yields to the speed limit, to her boss, maybe even to her peers every day. But when it comes to yielding to your life’s partner it is somehow caustic.
Really, that just doesn’t make sense. To live a selfless life of dedication to another person is an emblem of strength. We honor people like Mother Theresa, yet fail to see the beauty in the opportunity a wife is given each day to restrain her will for the will of her husband. Submission is not insulting, weak, or pathetic. It is a replica of the beacon of Christ’s love.
In your life together, think the way Christ Jesus thought. He was like God in every way, but he did not think that his being equal with God was something to use for his own benefit. Instead, he gave up everything, even his place with God. He accepted the role of a servant, appearing in human form. During his life as a man, he humbled himself by being fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death—death on a cross. Phil. 2:5-8
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about what submission is NOT.