Submission: To Be Under Christ's Mission.

Submission comes from the latin Submittere and means: sub=under + mittere=let go. It is defined as: To yield or surrender oneself to the will and authority of another, to obey. This is a very controversial issue that has divided the church and led many Christians to abandon their faith, because we are rebellious by nature. Jesus Christ lived a life of perfect submission, and we Christians are called to follow His example. In the Bible we are commanded to submit to God: James 4:7; to submit to our parents: Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20; to submit to the government: Romans 13:1; Titus 3:1; to submit to one another: Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5; wife to her husband: Ephesians 5:24; 1 Peter 3:1. As we see in Jesus’ life, submission is a voluntary act, God never forced Him to do it, Philippians 2:6-8; Matthew 26:39. Jesus Christ fulfilled His mission, the same way we are called to submit ourselves to Christ or to be under Christ’s mission. Probably the most controversial submission is the wife to her husband, since feminism is as strong in the church as it is in the world, women don’t think they have to submit themselves to their husbands. Even if submission is a voluntary act, before God it is a commandment, and just like any other commandment we must choose to obey. The problem we have when dealing with submission is that we don’t see it the way God sees it, submission is beneficial, it’s for our own good, there’s no salvation, eternal life, etc, without submission. When the wife submits herself to her husband, she is fulfilling God’s call for her life. Genesis 2:18. Here we see that God considers husbands and wives to be similar, equivalent, but yet the wife is the helper, the husband is the leader. Jesus Christ is the authority over the husband; the husband is the authority over the wife. Unfortunately, there are a lot of husbands (I’m talking about christianity) abusing their authority, they’re nothing but dictators in their houses, leading their family with an “iron fist”. Another way is the wife being the authority of the house, as they say: “for every Ahab there is a Jezebel”, meaning, if the husband doesn't take his place as a leader, the wife will do it. Another way is when nobody is the leader; the house becomes a total mess. Another one is when both husband and wife fight to be the authority, then the house becomes a battlefield, they end up divorcing or killing each other. Then there’s God’s way, Jesus Christ being the authority over the husband and the husband being the authority over the wife. If we analyze Jesus’ leadership over His disciples, we will see God’s concept of Servant Leadership (Robert K. Greenleaf stole God's idea and started a movement in 1970) the best scripture to explain it is John 13, where Jesus washes His disciples’ feet and tells them that He was giving them an example, the same way, we are called to wash one another’s feet, meaning, to serve one another. We husbands must learn how to serve our wives and be willing to give our lives for them. Because Christians, both husbands and wives don’t understand God’s way for marriage, the divorce rate is higher in the church than it is in the world. In December of 1999, George Barna published the results of a survey which found that 34 percent adult members of non-denominational Christian churches have experienced divorce in their lifetime, in contrast with 21 percent for atheists, agnostics and Roman Catholics. Baptists had the highest rate for born-again denominational Christians at 29 percent. The Mormon divorce rate was 24 percent. Overall, 27 percent of born-again Christians have experienced divorce compared to 24 percent for the rest of Americans. Nearly four thousand interviews were conducted, leaving a very small margin of error. Submission is not an option, is a commandment! Of course when dealing with marriage, there’s no place in the Bible where God calls the wife to be a doormat, a punching bag, an object to be used and abused by the husband, absolutely, the husband must honor and love his wife. 1 Peter 3:7. The same way Peter talks about Sarah who obeyed Abraham, calling him “lord”: 1 Peter 3:6. I know this is a very controversial subject, but, just like any other commandment, we have to believe and obey, there’s no other way. If we read the story of Abraham and Sarah, we don’t see Abraham mistreating or abusing his wife, absolutely, he loved her so much that he cared, honored and respected her. We husbands must follow Abraham’s example. I’m married for about 10 years, it may sound amazing for some people, but we never fought, we have our differences, disagreements, but, from the beginning, one of us always gave up for the sake of our marriage and what is really incredible is that my wife always followed me, even if she disagreed with me. I remember that every time we left one church to go to another, she was very sad and didn't like it at all, but she always decided to follow me. I’m not claiming perfection, but we are trying very hard to follow God’s commandment: I’m submitting myself to Jesus Christ and Fabiana is submitting herself to me. I believe that every problem can be resolved when we deny ourselves, take our cross and follow Jesus, by doing that, God Himself will make a way where there seems to be no way, if we do what is possible, God will do the impossible! So, what was Jesus Christ’s mission? John 6:38. His mission was to do the will of His Father!