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Half Again As Bad As A Four-Letter Word


           Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)

           Ah, and we were doing so well. Then Paul had to use that foul language – a six letter bad word. That makes it half again as bad as any of those four-letter-words, doesn’t it? I mean, isn’t submitting like damning oneself? Doesn’t that prove that Paul was a misogynist? We’re all equal!
          I don’t know about you, but I grew up in a time when the word submit was something slaves and animals might be expected to do (maybe) but not people, and especially not African Americans or women. Add to the culture in which I lived the fact that I was a latch-key kid from the age of ten, and accustomed to at least a certain degree of independence… you get the idea.
          One day, I found myself in the mood to buy a book. I headed to one of the local Christian bookstores. I was going to get a book, and it was not going to be a diet book! I have no idea why I’d put that restriction on it, but is it any surprise that the book I got ended up being a diet book? As I got back to my car, God spoken in that clear, inaudible voice He sometimes uses. He said, “You know, it won’t work if you don’t submit to it.”
          My jaw tightened. I ground my teeth but I didn’t turn around and return the book. When I started reading it, the first chapter dealt with the issue of submission. My teeth ground a little harder (I’m amazed I still have teeth.) I dabbled. I didn’t lose weight. Eventually, I donated the book to the library book sale. I understood: if you don’t do what the self-help book or teacher tells you, you won’t get the results advertised. It or he/she can’t help you.
           We don’t think it demeaning to submit to 2+2=4. If we rejected it, we’d find it hard to get through life. Equally so, most of us don’t mind submitting to gravity. It spare us a lot of broken bones, bruises and embarrassment. But the idea of someone else being able to boss us around – that’s unacceptable, inconceivable! “What if that person is unfair…unkind…abusive…?”
          Has that person been unfair, unkind or abusive? If not, maybe a little trust in in order. Until or unless someone shows they mean you harm, if you are choosing to submit, you’re still in charge, just as you are still in charge of yourself when you choose to not fight gravity, or choose to accept that 2+2=4.
          No, submission to another person isn’t easy, but it’d educational. It builds your strength because, no matter what else submitting requires, it requires self-control, and self-control is hard work. Submission isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of developing strength.

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