Spiritual Disciplinesናሙና

Day 6 - The Discipline of Submission

To submit means to give up the burden to enforce your own will towards any authority left by God in your life.

Christ lived the most profound form of submission, that’s why God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name.

He submitted to God in all things without objection. Through this He left us a model of submission. That’s why, submission to God has to be total, without limits, following Christ’s model!

When it comes to horizontal relationships, we can say that submission to authority implies giving it the respect and priority that come from a sincere heart. This thing has to be seen in the relationships with our families, with those at our workplace, in our relationships with the Church, and our relationship with the government.

Are there limits in practicing this discipline of submission? To what extent should I go?

There’s no limits in the relationship with God. Total surrender, total submission!

The limit in the relationship with my neighbour comes when submitting to him would exclude the possibility of submitting to God. Obedience has to be in the Lord. We must obey God rather than human beings!

When we submit to God, we won’t see the other relationships of submission as a burden, but as a privilege. The Biblical discipline of submission does not demean the one practicing it, but exalts Him.

Important! In most cases, the obstacle that stays between me and practicing submission is not my attitude or the behaviour of the other person, but the lack of my humbleness. That’s why, in all of these relationships I've mentioned, we cannot practice biblical submission until we submit to God. To be ready to deny myself, to take up my cross and follow Him.