5:21. submitting to one another in the fear of God.
–NKJ
Time for an unpopular idea, submitting. As United States citezens, we have come to love our rights of free speech. Basically we are proud of the fact that we can do what we want, and nobody can tell us what to do. We don’t have to submit to anybody. To carry that ideal to its extreme makes for a lonely existence and a poorer quality of life. At some point we need others to help us excel.
To ‘subject’ is the same as to ‘submit’, or to be ‘subordinate’ to one another.
To submit is to give a little of our freedom up, so others can recieve benefits.
Think of what it is to submit. I see it all the time on the Internet. A web page has a special product or service, all I need to do is fill out this online form and hit the ‘Submit’ button. I give up a little of my identity to recieve a benefit.
Somebody once told me of an image of what heaven and hell will be like. First the snapshot of hell. Picture a long banquet table with chairs lined down both sides. In front of each person seated at the banquet table is a feast of all sorts of assorted good things to eat. The trouble is that every person there has both arms in casts that hold them stretched out straight. Everybody is miserable and hungery because they can’t bend their elbows to move the food from their plate to their mouths. They try, but only end up spilling food on themselves, the floor, and any where except for their own mouths.
Now the picture of heaven. A similar long banquet table. The same kind of feast is set. The people sit on both sides of the table, but these people are happy, and well fed. They also have their arms in casts that hold them outstretched. The difference is that they have learned how to submit to one another. The one feeds the other who is across the table from him. Both submit, and both enjoy the benefits of it.
It may seem unnatural to be able to receive by giving part of ourselves away. Even if you can’t bring yourself to do it out of love for that other person, or out of a matter of pride on our own part, do it out of respect for Jesus. It’s what he wants us to do. The more you practice it, the easier it becomes.
Note: By the way, the word translated as ‘God’ in this verse is actually ‘Christ’. At least in the versions of the Bible that I have.