Submission

Submission is the title of my last week sermon.

Submission is also the hardest spiritual discipline I have personally known. When we submit, we will paradoxically experience freedom, that is freedom from the need to "Have It Your Way." Frank Sinatra may disagree as he seems to prefer "I do it my way" approach.

We need to learn like Jesus who submitted to His Father despite His preference to have the cup of God's wrath taken away from Him. That's the reason why He admonished Peter so hardly when Peter tried to lure Jesus away from the cross. "Get away behind me, Satan!" were His exact words addressed to Peter.

When things do not go as we expected or want them to be, we should learn to let them go. That means, we don't have to be angry, grumpy, disappointed, hurt, and so on. We are set free from anger and bitterness when people don't act towards us the way we think they should.

There are many things that are better left alone, and will get worse when we get entangled in them. This attitude acknowledges God as a Sovereign God who providentially and actively works within us and through us. Submission helps us to allow God be the Lord of our lives.

When Brother Lawrence heard someone told him that his boss had a mistaken idea about him and wanted to terminate his employment, he said "I am in the hands of God, He will do with me as He pleases. If I do not serve Him here, I will serve Him elsewhere."