Hello all! It's been a while! We have been working on our house, celebrating our dear friends Andy and Caitlin as they tied the knot, and celebrating David's birthday with a quick visit from his family and a quick visit to Atlanta. Phew! We've been busy!
I have been very blessed lately to have a lot of opportunities to fellowship with other women at my church. I have had many interesting discussions lately mostly revolving around marriage. I can tell you that marriage was not the piece of cake I thought it would be and it seems that the longer I'm in this thing, the more I realize I need to learn!
God uses marriage to shape us and mold us and form us into what we're called to be. This can be fun and exciting at times, but also excruciating at times.
Lately I've been confronted again and again with the concept of submission.
To many women, the word submit may seem like a dirty word of sorts. I often times have had negative thoughts about this concept as well and I've been trying to figure out why.
When I first got married I thought I would have no problem with this. I could be the perfect wife right? Wrong! This idea is so much harder than I realized.
Here are a few reasons I think women choose not to submit:
1. They think submission = slavery.
This is a false idea of submission. Submission does not mean you wait on your husband hand and foot and become his property. It means you put his needs before your own.
2. They fear it will be abused.
I think many women don't trust their husbands to allow them to submit without taking advantage of them. This is definitely possible, but not how God intends it. Our husbands are supposed to have our best interest at heart also. Maybe you're scared because you've witnessed firsthand submission gone wrong and this makes you resistant to it in your own life.
3. They fear they will not have a voice.
Submitting does not mean you lose your opinion or that your opinion goes unheard. Your husband should always listen to your opinion before making decisions and his decisions should always be based on the word and the well-being of his family.
4. They are too busy keeping score.
Submitting to your husband in order to get something in return is not servanthood at all. Too many times we get caught up in the score and forget why we're submitting in the first place. This only leads to bitterness and discontent.
I'm sure there are a lot more reasons! Please share any that you can think of! I encourage you married women out there to think about how you submit. If you don't, why don't you? Do you have negative or positive feelings associated with that word? I think it's important to analyze why we do the things we do. Take some time to think about it.
The truth is, submission does not have to be a dirty word. It is very clear in the word that God calls us to submit. Why? This topic I will tackle tomorrow. Come back for Part 2!!
I'll leave you with one verse that kind of gives you a sneak peak.
Ephesians 5: 21-24
"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."
It's really not about us at all...more details to come!
Your thoughts and comments are welcomed! Have a great Wednesday!
Very good note - I can't think of one that doesn't fit under one of the four you've already listed... if that makes any sense.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I think this issue is - well, just that - an issue because both women and men being led by their flesh is the natural thing to do. So we do what is natural, mold what we read in scripture to fit our natural actions, and continue to grow in frustration when our selfishness upsets our spouse. Compromise itself breaks down when one-sided, thoughts not first submitted to Christ build walls around hearts and proper biblical understanding, and here's the real bomb for us men -- if we're going to expect our spouses to follow God then we FIRST need to unconditionally surrender to Him and serve our wives without thought of return, but simply because it's commanded. Sacrifice and obedience...