Submission

I’m curious, what do you think of when I say submission? Giving up? Appeasement? Defeat? What about weakness? Shame? Second-best? The word submission carries with it so many negative connotations today that it seems as if it has evolved into a completely different word. This is not what submission is, or even truly accurate to what it means, at least not in a Christian sense. It is a very difficult, but entirely crucial, practice of the body. It requires immense discipline, something which I unfortunately do not possess within any stretch of the imagination.
    Yet I try it all the same. Why? Why submit myself to others? Why should I care more about others, putting them above myself so much as to deny myself and submit? Why lower myself? That doesn’t make any logical sense! Right?
    I might answer this with another question. Is God’s love for us logical? I would argue absolutely not. Imagine, the King of the Universe, Author of All Creation, taking time from His heavenly, perfect throne to pay a single moment’s heed to a pitiful, lowly, small, insignificant human. Better yet, imagine we were all bad! That we never listened to Him, always doing the opposite of what He said, angering Him immensely. Imagine, Him still loving us after turning away from Him, cursing and denying His existence or very name. Imagine, He still loved us so much that He would send his son, His own son, to die to save us. Well guess what, you don’t have to imagine it. It’s happened. How does that not sound completely, utterly, undeniably non-logical to you? As one philosopher once said: The heart has reasons, that reason cannot know. Now, I do not mean to trivialize the power of the love of God into a single, succinct quote; but it helps contextualize it for us human beings. Because honestly, His love is unfathomable.
    That is why I attempt to submit myself as best I can to others. First of all, I’m not the center of the universe, contrary to popular belief. I do not deserve anything, I am not worthy of anything. Secondly, if my very God can submit humbly to His own creation, how much more should I do it for Him and to others? The very act of it may not seem logical, but the reasons for doing it are so obvious! But submitting is not logical, it is loving. When you submit, you don’t lose, everyone wins. It is a difficult notion to grasp, I hardly have it myself, but it will only come naturally with much discipline and practice.