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Seeking Submission

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:7-8, 10)

What mental image do you get when you think of the word “submission”?

Maybe it’s a wrestler tapping the mat because his opponent has him pinned. Could be it’s an exasperated mother who feeds her toddler ice cream for dinner one night because he won’t stop screaming for it. You might also think of a dog dropping its master’s shoe after getting caught chewing on it.

Whatever comes to mind, there’s a good chance you thought of someone or something giving in to a superior force. Buckling under pressure. Bowing to someone else against their own will. But if we walk through life with this view of submission, we’ll miss out on one of the most freeing and profound elements of a relationship with Jesus.

As leaders, we’re used to wielding authority, which sounds unrelated to submission. But the Bible tells us all authority on Heaven and Earth has been given to Jesus (Matthew 28:18). If we want true authority, then, we must first submit to His.

Here’s where we need to update our definition of submission. In all of the examples earlier, submission came as an afterthought. The wrestler tapping? The fed-up mom? The dog who got caught mid-chew? For all of them, submission was something they only did when their own plans got interrupted.

This is the difference between an act of submission and a spirit of submission. An act of submission reacts to a change; it’s passive. A spirit of submission seeks direction from the start; it’s active.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is given direction from God to go find Elisha, who would succeed him as a prophet. When Elijah found Elisha, Elijah threw his cloak over him as a symbol, saying “I call on you to join me.”

Now, Elisha did react. He left his oxen and the field he was plowing and ran after Elijah, asking if he could go tell his parents goodbye. Elijah left it up to him, basically saying, “Why are you asking me? It’s God Who’s Calling you, not me.”

And this is where a spirit of submission comes into play. Not only did Elisha tell his parents bye and set out to follow Elijah, but he burned his plows and fed his oxen to the people. It was his way of saying, “I am committed to Elijah and the work he has for me to do.” It was him submitting to whatever direction Elijah had for his life.

This is what it looks like to seek submission — to loosen your grip on your own plans and sit at Jesus’ Feet, ready and waiting for His call and direction. As leaders, it becomes very easy to make our own plans and then ask God to bless them. But if we truly want to see the King, we need to be seeking submission.

Inhale and pray: God, I trust that Your plans are better than mine.

Exhale and pray: Help me let go of my will and embrace Yours.