Submit | To Come Under Mission

The word “submit” gets such a bad rap-kinda like politics. Politics are not “bad”, it’s the people in office that cause corruption. In the same way, the definition of “submit” is powerful, but it’s been represented in such a way that maligns the meaning.

The word comes from two root words:

SUB: to come under

MIT: to send on mission

So if one were to submit to another, it simply means to come under mission. 

Paul writes Titus, detailing what a godly life looks like for men and women.

Men must exercise self control, be worthy of respect & live wisely with sound faith while filled with love & patience.

Women must live in a way that honors God, not be slanderous nor be a slave to wine. Instead, the older are called to train the younger. They’re also called to live wisely & be submissive to their husbands.

There it is 👆🏽The dreaded verse that so many stumble over-be submissive to their husbands.

I’ve heard lots of arguments of why this command is no longer relevant. We have the freedom to do whatever we please, but the struggle is real when we choose our own way, instead of following The Way.

God’s design for marriage was for husbands & wives to become a picture of Jesus & The Church. Husbands are a visual of the groom, Jesus, who laid down his life for his beautiful bride, The Church (wives).

Our children need never don the doors of a church building to experience the loving relationship between Christ & The Church.

If husbands led like Jesus, loving so deep that they’d be willing to lay down their lives for their wives, their wives couldn’t help but love the way he loves & come under his missional lead!

Paul begins his letter with this:

This letter is from Paul, a SLAVE of God & an apostle of Jesus Christ.

The Greek word for slave, doulos, is only used in the New Testament with the highest regard of believers who willingly live under Christ’s authority as His devoted followers.

If we each did our part in marriage, husbands dying to selves to submit to Jesus’s Lordship, & wives coming under her husband’s mission to follow Jesus, I think the divorce rate just might begin to disappear? Lord, give us fresh revelation of what it means to submit today...

#OneYearBible

October 27th One Year Bible Readings

💡JEREMIAH 51:1-53

💡TITUS 2:1-15

💡PSALM 99:1-9

💡PROVERBS 26:17

Profession Without Confession is Powerless

My husband attended a men’s retreat last weekend with one of our sons. He was so excited to tell me the amazing Truths he learned. He repeated this phrase several times, “We can win publicly, but lose privately.”

It was based on the story of King Saul & how he didn’t want to fight Goliath. David, a young shepherd boy, volunteered for the job. The King gave David his armor so the people would think it was Saul on the field bravely battling the giant. He wanted to win the people’s approval through falsehood.

That teaching surfaced in my thoughts this morning as I read Paul’s letter to Titus. He writes of a people who profess that they know God, but deny Him by the way they live.

Right after I read the passage this phrase played like a ticker tape:

Profession of faith without confession of Lordship is like owning a car without gas. It looks great, but it won’t get you to your desired destination.

Living in the Bible Belt, I think most folks I encounter would profess that they’re a Christian. If you “looked under the hood” of their life, however, I wonder if you’d find much evidence of it ever being driven?

We can profess something all day long, but it remains as notional knowledge unless it’s accompanied by confession.

We can KNOW that there is God, we can SAY we believe in Him, but unless we believe in the One True God & confess our need of His Son, Jesus, to save us from our sins, the knowledge remains just that- a knowing & not an experiencing the power of living underneath His Lordship!

Psalm 98:9 reminds us that Jesus is judge & He will return to judge the earth. The time is coming, & in fact, we are not promised tomorrow, so someone reading this may end up at heaven’s gates by day’s end...

When you stand before Him, will your life reflect a profession of faith without the gas, thus denying His Lordship by the way you lived? You’ll call Him, “Lord, Lord...” but He won’t even know you.

Or will the profession be accompanied by a confession of your great need of His salvation & Lordship?

When our confession matches our profession, our surrendered lives become a powerhouse vehicle driven for His purposes & eventually lead to eternity with Him in heaven!

#OneYearBible

October 26th One Year Bible Readings

💡JEREMIAH 49:23-50:46

💡TITUS 1:1-16

💡PSALM 97:1-98:9

💡PROVERBS 26:13-16

Feeling the Effects of a Stone-tied Slingshot

Picturing a stone tied to a slingshot makes me laugh with nervous laughter. Surely the slinger of the stone would know it’s tied, but picturing the effect of it makes me wince & laugh all at once, kinda like a Wiley Coyote & Road Runner cartoon 😂😬

I think a lot of people might say that we have a nation feeling the effects of Proverbs 26:8:

Honoring a fool is as foolish as tying a stone to a slingshot.😳

Regardless of how we’ve arrived to the current state of affairs, Christians have a responsibility to make God’s Word a priority. It teaches us Truth & shines a spotlight on lies so we may course correct.

His Word guards us from, “...foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights.”

Paul exhorts us to remember that as a servant of the Lord, we must be kind to EVERYONE, able to patiently & GENTLY teach difficult people who oppose Truth.

Why gently? So we might fade to the background while GOD changes people’s hearts.

People who believe lies are like one who has a stone tied to a slingshot...they keep slinging that thing & giving themselves a blind eye.

They’ve no idea that they’re concussed in their thinking, so those who know Truth need treat them with kindness to woo them to the Personhood OF Truth, Jesus Christ!

I can sling clever speech with the best of them, but what’s my aim? Truth convicts. I need only share it & then let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Paul exhorts kind & patient teaching SO THAT those caught in the land of the lost might, “escape the devil’ snare, for they’ve been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.”

Y’all, if we could see with spiritual glasses, we’d be a much kinder people! We are in a spiritual war. It’s high time we stop entering petty arguments, &  rather teach with kindness to rescue those held captive by enemy lies!

We live in perilous times where fools are honored & our world has become concussed with the rebound of a stone-tied slingshot.

A time is coming when unjust leaders & people-pleasing shepherds will pay for teaching lies. In the meantime, however, the Lord is our mighty Rock where we hide. Let’s stand on Him & choose our words wisely, kindly & with great patience so that many captives be set free!

#oneyearbible

October 24th One Year Bible Readings

💡JEREMIAH 44:24-47:7

💡2 TIMOTHY 2:22-3:17

💡PSALM 94:1-23

💡PROVERBS 26:6-8