Draw Near – 365 Guides to Greater Intimacy with GodSample

SUBMISSION We are all rebels. We do not like stop signs and resent having to follow rules. However, rules make life possible, for without them not even a friendly game of Ping Pong could be played. There have to be lines of authority and rules of behavior. Thus God's Word says: ...Submitting to one another in the fear of God. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything (Ephesians 5:21-24). This principle of submission is not found in only one verse of the Bible. Paul also says to the church in Colossae: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord (Colossians 3:18). Peter adds, Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear (1 Peter 3:1-2). In a living, loving marriage, submission is no problem. In every case where the Bible tells wives to be submissive, there are strong statements that the husbands must love the wives. It is not hard to be submissive to one who deeply loves you: For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). It is easy to follow someone who leads with selfless love. Thus, husbands who insist that wives be submissive should also remember they are called to a deep love that will not make this demand hard to endure.