Skip to main content

The S-Word


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

           There’s that S-word again. Somehow, they should find a way to remove two letters, then it would be a perfect bit of foul language. In this case, there’s the slight amelioration that it’s not one group of people specifically being told to submit to another group of people. This isn’t wives, children, or slaves submitting, but everyone within the Christian community submitting to others of the same kind.
In this time of crisis, the government has called on us to submit by isolating ourselves. Effectively, we’re supposed to care for others by caring for ourselves – by staying home. I don’t know about you but I have things to do, places to go, people to see, and a book to promote (soon)! I don’t have time for this isolation stuff. I’ve heard and read of young folks particularly, who refuse to give up their “spring break” in Florida because of this disease. Submit? No way! Life is too short, and they’re young, so it won’t likely kill them, even if it kills their grandparents when the students go home and visit them.
            As the park where I live in Florida is emptying out, I’m struggling with the issue of submission. I’m starting to close things down to drive north. Am I being unsubmissive? Should I be staying here? When I get up north, what am I going to do? We’re in a crisis. I’ve shared calls for the Church to rise up and be the Church. We’re supposed to move into the crisis and help others. I’ve read the books and seen the movies. Heroes rise up in a time of crisis. But the problem is that the crisis isn’t here. It’s somewhere out there and keeping it from being here involves submitting to restrictions others advise or even submitting to restrictions that we place on ourselves. While heroism often involves sacrifice, the sacrifice of staying home so that I don’t endanger others just isn’t as romantic a gesture as I want to make, especially since I’m not in one of the more endangered categories.
           Since I’m winding down and starting to pack, but don’t plan to leave for a few days, I have time to finish a few projects and to do some thinking and goal setting. And one of the considerations for those goals is to find ways to turn this part of my journey into something beautiful while submitting to the restrictions society and I place on me. How can I be heroic while hunkering?
           One of the answers to this is that hunkering doesn’t mean sitting around watching TV. Submission doesn’t involve passiveness. It involves doing what you can within the restrictions you face. You may know what that means, but since I’m facing my semi-annual migration, there’s a whole life to rebuild up north. I’m walking by faith into yet another unknown. We all are, so how do we do it with hope? Part of that involves finding ways to work while submitting. Time to set some goals.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more