The Strength to Submit

I'll be totally honest--when I hear the word "submit", even in the Bible, the little feminist inside me cringes a bit.

On the surface, submitting sounds like something for those who are weak, passive, lacking intelligence or backbone.

And after all, I'm a pretty independent person--basically paying my way through college, finding a great job and moving up the corporate ladder, buying a home as a single woman at 24--for goodness sake, I've even done minor electrical repairs (involving a gas fireplace of all things!). :)

But when I look at that list of "stuff," I know I didn't do any of it on my own (and more importantly, how much does that "stuff" actually matter anyway?). A lot of these things have happened because of submitting to God and His principles and often, submitting to the expertise of authority figures in my world (like my parents, mortgage experts and my manager, for example).

This past weekend, I had a new thought about submission. It was in a small group study comparing the:

• Structure of the Trinity: Son submitting in unity to the authority of the Father with the Holy Spirit honoring their authority
  
• Structure of the family: Wife submitting in unity to her husband with children instructed to honor them
  
• Structure of the Church: Leaders submitting to Christ with church members instructed to honor both Christ and leaders

These comparisons weren't earth-shattering news to me--I'd heard them before. But one aspect stood out this time.

As many modern women might agree, the concept of submitting to a husband brings up the ugly connotations of submission I mentioned at the start of this post. But not so fast ...

If I look at Christ's role in the Trinity and life of submitting to the Father's will, those negative views of submission completely disappear.

The thought hit me--absolutely nothing about Jesus was weak. If I am to follow His example, I actually need strength to submit.

Relationships work best when everyone operates from a position of strength.

It's actually pretty easy for me to honor my parents, church leaders and boss because I know they're good leaders who are looking out for my best interests or the best interests of others we all care about. And I'm at my strongest when they can trust I'm doing my best to honor them and those we serve together.