Living in submission

Submission is a difficult topic for us to address. We don’t do well with submission.

In the new Avengers movie, Loki tells a group of humans, “Kneel before me. I said... KNEEL! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”

His quote raises an interesting thought that came to my mind when I was watching the movie. Are we made to be ruled?

Are we made to be ruled? (Yes, I asked the same question twice, because I want us to really think about it.)

Depending on how you define “ruled,” I think we are.

We are designed to function best when we submit. As beings created in the image of God, we are made to submit in community.

You might think, wait, does that mean God submits? I believe God does submit. But the submission is a choice, not a forced situation. Consider what Paul says about Christ in Philippians 2…

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

            did not consider equality with God

            something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

            by taking the very nature of a servant,

            being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

            he humbled himself

            by becoming obedient to death —

            even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

            and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

            in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

            to the glory of God the Father.

Did you catch that? Jesus submitted himself on our behalf. He became a servant to the point of death. And through that submission and death, he was exalted to the highest place.

If Jesus can choose to submit, why can’t we?

I do believe we are made for submission, but it’s a submission born out of love, not fear. Hope, not dismay. It is a submission where we lay down our life for the sake of the other.

Imagine how much different our world could be if we could all learn to submit in this fashion. Maybe then, the world would look a little more like the one that God created in the beginning. Maybe, as Jesus prayed, it would be on earth as it is in heaven.

 

shine!
Jason