Dear Friends,
I hope you are feeling blessed this week (and at least mostly sane if you’re involved in the first week of school!). One of the advantages of the mid-week note is that it gives me an opportunity to go back and finish some thoughts from the previous Sunday, as well as lay the foundation for what’s to come ahead. So, here goes…
On Sunday we talked about submission to God and others as path to freedom. It may sound contradictory that when you submit to putting God’s will or your neighbor’s needs first that you actually become free, but it’s true! What you become free from is the obsessive need to always have things turn out your way or in your control. This all-too-human tendency actually constrains us and turns us into people we weren’t meant to be, either consumed by selfishness or self-pity…like a frustrated toddler or a weeping willow tree. We talked about prayer as a means of submission to God because our prayers at their best affirm that God is in charge and that we are open to His provision and will. Plus, I gave you a challenge for this week: to pray the Lord’s Prayer every day in a spirit of submission and to pray for those for whom it’s difficult for you to pray as an act of submission to your neighbor.
Now, I’d like to say some more about what it means to submit to your neighbor. In his book Celebration of Disciple, Richard Foster writes,
In submission we are at last free to value other people. Their dreams and plans become important to us. For the first time we can love people unconditionally. We have given up the right to demand that they return our love. No longer do we feel that we have to be treated in a certain way. We rejoice in their successes. We feel genuine sorry in their failures. We discover that it is far better to serve our neighbor than to have our own way (p112).
For some of us, the disciple of submitting to God is challenging; for others, submission to others–whether loved ones, coworkers, strangers–is the more difficult call. If we take these words to heart it means acting differently in a store or office when we think we are there solely to be served. May the Holy Spirit reminds us that we are the ones called to serve. We also must remember these words when we are at home with our family and we feel we have to hold our ground in an argument or at least just get the other person to admit our validity. May the Holy Spirit reminds us that it’s more important that our relationships are right than our argument. And when we hear an appeal to help villages & churches left with only orphans and ruins, may the Holy Spirit reminds us that if our kids deserve safety, shelter, good health, and love, so do these kids.
In all of the ways we interact with loved ones, local neighbors, and the world, we are called to submit our pride and plans for the sake raising up a brother or sister. Lastly, submission in Christian relationships (like in marriage or in churches) is always mutual; and in all cases is only beneficial as long as it leads to life & freedom…it’s purpose is never to be destructive. That’s not God’s way. And let us remember it’s not necessarily up to us to determine what a person’s needs are or what exactly their best interest. God knows. And God honors our prayers for other people without having to fill in the details for them. This is prayer with the right motives.
May God lead us in the ways of freedom and the life everlasting.
Pastor Amber
