| Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. |
| —Ephesians 5:21 |
Today, I want to very respectuflly ask you to consider a word that we don’t hear very much about these days. It is the word “submit.” Now I realize that the word “submit” is not a word that most people want to consider as a reasonable part of their daily existence Nevertheless, in one way or another, most of us have had to submit numerous times throughout the course of our lives. Please let me illustrate my point with this memory:
When I was a little boy, I really did not like to eat peas. My mom told me that peas were good for me. But, when I looked at a pile of peas on my plate, all I could think of was how mushy and squishy they would be when I took a spoonful of them into my mouth and began to chew.
So, when my mom would give me some peas, I would take my spoon and push the peas over to the side of the plate. I would be very careful that all the peas stayed together in that little pile. Then, I would eat everything else on my plate, and hope that by saving the peas to the very last, maybe Mom wouldn’t make me eat them.
But do you know what? She would make me eat them every time.
Now sometimes, I would sit there and not eat those peas for a very long time. My mom would say, Dean, eat your peas.”
And I would say, “Yes, Mom.” But I wouldn’t eat them.
In a little while, my mom would say, “Dean, eat your peas.”
And, again, I would say, “Yes, Mom.” But, I still wouldn’t eat the peas.
Finally, my mom would say, “Dean, eat your peas. You cannot leave the table until you eat those peas.”
So, finally, reluctantly, even tearfully. I would eat the peas, very, very slowly. The moment I began to eat those peas, I began to “submit” to my mom. You see, I finally did what my mom wanted me to do. That’s what it means to “submit.” We submit, when we do what someone asks us to do.
God wants us to do what He tells us to do in His written Word, the Bible. He wants us to submit to Him because He loves us and because He always knows what is the very best for us. God also wants us to submit to each other, particularly in certain very special relationships, such as within the bond of marriage. Please note what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:21-33:
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Submitting to God and submitting to each other is one of the ways we show our love and respect. Let’s determine to practice the redeeming work of submission. Doing so is definitely for our benefit.
