Yesterday, my Love and I spoke to a group of singles at church about the issue of Leadership/Submission… This is a scary but good discussion which I feel burdened to walk through with others. It’s scary to me because it’s an issue where many people are divided. People that I respect might disagree with me. And it’s not an easy issue but it’s a very emotional one.
However, I feel before God that this is more than a suggestion but even a key to a not just fulfilling but indeed a successful, exciting, abundant marriage. If those who know and have a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ could get a handle on this, I believe there might be hope to stem the tide of rampant divorce that doesn’t seem to discriminate between those who know Christ and those who do not. This application is not fun but the result is profound.
I’m seeing it’s result first hand and the difference between applying the principals and not is vast. I long for people to be able to grasp both the gravity of the situation and the desire to do things as God has instructed even if it means going against a whole life worth of training and watching examples that don’t ascribe to this plan.
The scary thing to me is how little we are aware of the world’s unwitting impact on us. Me especially.
I just have to say, contrary to the popular culture’s portrayal in many shows on TV, men are not dumb, or always childish, ignorant of how to make everyday life choices. They are not only ruled by their sexual appetites. Because of the way women have lived and raised up many guys, men are very confused about how to live the way God intended. They have no idea how to be that perfect balance of romantic and brave enough to lay down their lives to protect us that we so desparately long for from them. Namely, because many times we’re so busy manipulating and nagging or poking at them to get what we want out of them or making them feel as miserable as we do so in the end, they’ll fulfill our hopes and dreams. Instead of getting the thing our hearts so desparately long for, we disparage the chance of getting it. What an exercise in futility! Only we can’t see it because we’re so busy being hampsters on the deadly wheel.
Praise God that He has set us free from following the patterns established by our flesh and that He has provided a way for us to have an abundant life. Why? Because it brings glory to Him! What a wonderful God that can get glory and pleasure from doing us good. Thanks God… Please give us courage and dilligence to live as you want and not as we want for therein lies a key to an abundant and fulfilling relational life.
AMEN!