Submission

I've got to say, the chapter on submission has definitely been my favorite so far.

As I was reading this week, all I could think of was an image I've heard Mason and Reid both share: it's an image of daily submitting to crucifixion with Jesus by sitting and waiting to get out of bed until I could see the nail scars in my own hands. Foster says:

"As the first words of the morning are of submission, so are the last words of the night. We surrender our body, mind, and spirit into the hands of God to do with us as he please through the long darkness." (p. 122)

And the second thing the chapter reminded me of, was the portion from the SUP (I think?) on humility: "Humility is allowing yourself to be wronged."

I was especially encouraged by the way that Foster framed this same truth with an emphasis on the freedom it brings us:

"What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way." (p. 111)

"Do you know the liberation that comes from giving up your rights? It means you are set free from the seething anger and bitterness you feel when someone doesn't act toward you the way you think they should." (p. 112)

And finally, the last repeated line that was bouncing around in my head the whole time was this: Only obedience produces genuine joy. Only obedience. Only submission.


Until I submit to my Father's will, I'll always be pushing away something of the joy and freedom He's offering. Until I join Him on the cross in daily surrender and daily submission, I'm still enslaved. Trying to pull myself up on my own and prop myself up on my own strength is never going to be as fulfilling as I think it is. If submission is what it meant for Jesus to be fully God (Phil. 2:8), how could it mean any less for me to be fully human?