Christ Is the Key

Submission is a beautiful word! A heart that loves God is a heart of humility and submission. We are to humbly submit to God and "to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21). Biblically, submission means willingly surrendering one's rights to another person based on the order God has established. Submission is the opposite of demanding one's own way.

Christ is the Head of the Church. The husband is the head of the wife. "But there is one thing I want you to know: 'The Head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Corinthians 11:3) Christ (God's Son) relates to God the Father in submission. Headship is not the same as dictatorship.

Want a happy & fulfilled marriage? Follow God's design and plan. The marriage relationship was designed by Him to represent the spiritual relationship between Christ and His Church. This passage shows how the wife should relate to her husband and how the husband should relate to his wife.

Submission is practical. It brings order in a marriage relationship. Wives are to submit to their own husbands as they submit themselves to the Lord. It means we are to willingly accept, support, and follow our husbands' leadership in Christ. Submission does not mean slavery. And husband leadership in the home has nothing to do with superiority. Husbands and wives have equal worth, value, and dignity but different God-appointed roles. Differences don't mean deficiencies. Ignoring God's ideal for marriage will only bring about chaos, conflict, and disunity. Imagine constant tugs of war or ineffective stalemate.

Christ is the Key! A Christ-honoring husband will not take advantage of his leadership role and a Christ-honoring wife will not try to undermine her husband's leadership.

Husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies...as Christ loves His Church by laying down their lives. Love unconditionally (regardless of how his wife looks, acts, or submits), sacrificially, and selflessly! Wives' well-being (not only physically but also spiritually) is husbands' primary concern.

"What does it mean to submit? It is to give oneself up to somebody. What does it mean to love? It is to give oneself up for somebody, as Christ 'gave Himself up' for the church. Thus 'submission' and 'love' are two aspects of the very same thing, namely of that selfless self-giving which is the foundation of an enduring and growing marriage." ~John Stott

Let's put Philippians 2:3-5 into practice in our marriage relationship. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." When we have Christlike attitude, we're willing to give up our own rights for the good of others; we discover that it's far better to submit, to serve, and to love than to have our own way.

P.S. You can enter to win a copy of The Marriage You've Always Wanted by Gary Chapman on my other blog at http://fivesavedbygrace.blogspot.com/2014/02/book-review-and-giveaway-marriage-youve.html . I highly recommend this book! Ends 2/28