Wendy Pope
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)
I was driving out of the neighborhood the other day and saw something that broke my heart. A sheriff deputy’s car was parked outside the home of one of my neighbors. Beside the deputy's squad car sat a moving truck. Coming out the front door was the woman of house with an armful of stuff. It didn't take long to figure out what was going on. This was the sight of a broken home.
With this image still heavy on my heart, I later learned that two couples who had been friends with my husband and me early in our marriage had divorced. My mind wondered and my heart cried out, "Lord, what happened? Why does this keep happening?" In the case of my neighbors, I am sad to say that I don't know if they were believers. Our friends were believers and at one time had been very active in the church. Through heartache and prayers I again asked the Lord another question, "How can I keep this from happening in my marriage? What can I do?"
He quickened my spirit to the book of Ephesians, specifically, chapter five. I had a mental conversation with Him. "Lord, submission? It can't be just up to me." Quickly I felt peace in my spirit as I realized He was talking about verse 21. I have to say I felt relieved once I understood what He was saying. The submission must be to Him. Both the husband and the wife must submit. I daydreamed of what my marriage would be like if both my husband and I fervently submitted to the Lord in every area of our lives. Wow, it gives me tingles just thinking of it.
The purpose of today's devotion is not to debate the pros and cons of submission. Nor is it to discuss the context of chapter 5 in Ephesians. The purpose of the devotion is to make us think. Whether you are married or single this verse applies to you. Submitting to God is not an option. It is God’s prescription for a world of peace. In a world where everyone submitted, God would be heard by all His children and they would willingly and delightfully obey. In such a world families would stay together, murders would cease, and kindness would abound. Wouldn't you like to live in a world like that? It would be heaven on earth!
Dear Lord, Let Your kingdom come. Help me to submit to You as the Lord of my life so that I might reflect the beauty and kindness of who You are. I want to pray for others to do the same, and then this world would be like heaven on earth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do you know Him?
i am not but i know I AM by Louie Giglio
6 Habits of Highly Effective Christians by Brian T. Anderson and Glynnis Whitwer
Application Steps:
In your journal, prayerfully and honestly answer the reflection questions.
Reflections:
What areas of your life do you experience difficulty submitting?
How do you perceive submitting in the difficult areas will personally affect you?
Are there any areas in your life in which God has called you to submit and you have not? If yes, why haven't you?
Power Verses:
Job 22:21, "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you." (NIV)
Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." (NIV)
Psalm 112:1, "Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands." (NIV)
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)
I was driving out of the neighborhood the other day and saw something that broke my heart. A sheriff deputy’s car was parked outside the home of one of my neighbors. Beside the deputy's squad car sat a moving truck. Coming out the front door was the woman of house with an armful of stuff. It didn't take long to figure out what was going on. This was the sight of a broken home.
With this image still heavy on my heart, I later learned that two couples who had been friends with my husband and me early in our marriage had divorced. My mind wondered and my heart cried out, "Lord, what happened? Why does this keep happening?" In the case of my neighbors, I am sad to say that I don't know if they were believers. Our friends were believers and at one time had been very active in the church. Through heartache and prayers I again asked the Lord another question, "How can I keep this from happening in my marriage? What can I do?"
He quickened my spirit to the book of Ephesians, specifically, chapter five. I had a mental conversation with Him. "Lord, submission? It can't be just up to me." Quickly I felt peace in my spirit as I realized He was talking about verse 21. I have to say I felt relieved once I understood what He was saying. The submission must be to Him. Both the husband and the wife must submit. I daydreamed of what my marriage would be like if both my husband and I fervently submitted to the Lord in every area of our lives. Wow, it gives me tingles just thinking of it.
The purpose of today's devotion is not to debate the pros and cons of submission. Nor is it to discuss the context of chapter 5 in Ephesians. The purpose of the devotion is to make us think. Whether you are married or single this verse applies to you. Submitting to God is not an option. It is God’s prescription for a world of peace. In a world where everyone submitted, God would be heard by all His children and they would willingly and delightfully obey. In such a world families would stay together, murders would cease, and kindness would abound. Wouldn't you like to live in a world like that? It would be heaven on earth!
Dear Lord, Let Your kingdom come. Help me to submit to You as the Lord of my life so that I might reflect the beauty and kindness of who You are. I want to pray for others to do the same, and then this world would be like heaven on earth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do you know Him?
i am not but i know I AM by Louie Giglio
6 Habits of Highly Effective Christians by Brian T. Anderson and Glynnis Whitwer
Application Steps:
In your journal, prayerfully and honestly answer the reflection questions.
Reflections:
What areas of your life do you experience difficulty submitting?
How do you perceive submitting in the difficult areas will personally affect you?
Are there any areas in your life in which God has called you to submit and you have not? If yes, why haven't you?
Power Verses:
Job 22:21, "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you." (NIV)
Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." (NIV)
Psalm 112:1, "Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands." (NIV)
Labels: God's Perspective, Marriage, Serving
7 Comments:
Alas, tis true, that we each must submit to the Lord. However, there are times when the husband just does not(or the wife). There are times when the woman's life and kids lives are in danger. If a husband is threatening to kill or hurt her or the kids, she must leave.(I'm not saying to divorce) just to leave.
I've been in those shoes(not the killing part) but when the husband won't live pleasing unto the Lord. He was a drug addict. And there were times when we weren't safe. Had CPS come to our home they would have taken them even though *I* wasn't the one on drugs. If the wife allows her kids to be in a home where there are drugs she WILL be in trouble with the law and the kids CAN be taken from HER.
Yes if both submit our lives WOULD be great. But we live in an imperfect world. A wife CAN obey her Lord and her husband even if he's not saved, or even if he's not walking with God.
The marriage CAN be held together by her walk with God, but MUCH wisdom MUST be used in extreme cases.
Praise the Lord, my husband got saved and he got sober. But it was a long hard road. The Bible is clear they 'we' must submit to our husbands, as unto the Lord. Oh that can be a long lesson eh?
I'm not meaning to disagree with you.I DO agree. Just that I've lived on the other side.
How God works. Over this past weekend I heard two sermons on Eph. 5. Then Tuesday I read a devotion on submiting to God from the same passage. It is a battle for me to submit. I want to be selfish, but I know that submiting to God makes it easier to submit to my husband then life is easier all the way around my life.
Thank you. I love that you pointed out that submission to the Lord is not to be argued about. My husband and I see so many wounded marraiges all around us and wonder why we are getting stronger instead of weaker. When we used to focus on who should submit and who was right it only weakened us. When we began to focus on growing in our relationships with the Lord it was amazing the transformations that He did inside each of us.
Even if only one of us would have submitted to God, I believe that God would have honored that in ways he alone knows. We cannot have the attitude that we will submit and obey only if we know that what we want will be included in the results. We obey out of love for our saviour, not out of manupulation.
I have seen marriages crumble even when one submitted, but the one that submitted came out of it healthy and able to get through it with God's help. I have also seen marriages where the one who was initially following God gradually sunk into depression after making saving the marriage their idol. We have to keep our priorities intact and never allow there to be anything that comes before God... even our marriages. We must entrust even those to God with all our hearts.
Submitting is definitely easier when you have that relationship with the Lord and want it to improve above all else (my pride, what other women think). My husband has had problems with abuse of alcohol,too. So I know something of what sisterlisa is talking about. Our marriage is improving and I thank the Lord for that. We have had a long, hard road, too but it is worth it. We still have a long way to go but God is definitely our help and strength.
[My comments are not directly toward any precious women who are experiencing any kind of abuse or addiction in the home - please seek help!]
I agree!!!!!! Submitting to Christ is the key. It guarantees a wonderful, fullfilling relationship with our Lord and Savior. There is nothing better! He satisfies our every need.
In a beautiful, godly marriage, both husband and wife are seeking the Lord, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Him. Of course, we can only determine our part of obedience to the Lord in this two sided command. Our submission to the Lord will guarantee a beautiful relationship with Him. He will give us the strength and a desire to honor our husbands with submsission. Although this submission does not guarantee a beautiful, godly marriage, it will be impossible without it.
I am having a hard time submitting to the Lord our God. I believe in him; however, I don't know how to let go of everything and just trust him that he will provide. I am so afraid, and I don't know why. Afraid of calling Him and He would not answer me. I have called and He have not answer me. I know I am doing something wrong and I need help to be close to Him, stay close to him forever.
In response to Anonymous: I was in a weekly Bible study with a group of women several years ago when I was going through an extremely difficult and painful time in my marriage. For homework, we were instructed to write down how the Lord showed Himself to us throughout the week. What I hoped to be able to write down each day is that the Lord changed my difficult situation. However, that was not what happened. Looking back, I know that what did happen was even better. Each day, I logged testimony of how the Lord sustained me through a specific verse in His Word, a song, a tear shed by a friend that felt my pain, the kindness of a friend or stranger, a message from my pastor, a message from the radio, one of these devotionals, the heartfelt prayer of my Sunday School class, and sometimes even just being reminded of his power and sovereignty looking upon a beautiful sunset or rainbow. None of these were accidental. The Lord gave me each of them, just at the right time. He was so personal with me that he knew exactly what I needed that day to sustain me. After many difficult years, my marriage is better, but still a work in progress. However, my relationship with Christ is beautiful!
Among many others, I learned a very important lesson through those difficult years that is summed up in Jeremiah 29:13-14 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you declares the Lord and will bring you back from captivity. For me, seeking Him meant searching His Word to know Him better, praying His Word out loud, praying for a close relationship with Him, praying for Him to show my ways to serve Him and others, praying for my husband and children, praying for others, praying for my situation, searching his Word for instruction (very hard to be kind when very angry-I need to read over verses about love, kindness, and submission daily), searching His Word for encouragement, surrounding myself with Christian friends, being open with my Sunday School class so that they could pray for me and encourage me.
I will be praying for you.
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