Wednesday, January 14, 2009

THOUGHT: Love & Submission

I love nature. I love walking in a forest. I love seeing the mountains. And don't even get me started me on water: rivers, streams, waterfalls, lakes the ocean ahhhhhhhh! it all blows me away. I love it. It makes me feel more alive, more human, more the way I am supposed to be.

And can you imagine what it would be like if the earth was not at war, striving so hard just to survive?

Our earth is like a child who has grown up without parents, having no one to guide and direct her. Some have attempted to help her but most have simply tried to use her. Humans, who have been given the task to lovingly steer the world, instead plunder her with no consideration, other than their immediate needs. And they give little thought for their own children who will inherit their lack of love. So they use her and abuse her with little consideration and then when she shudders or blows her breath, they are offended and raise their fist at God.

This blue-green ball in black space, filled with beauty even now, battered and abused and lovely. This blue-green ball in black space belongs to Jesus and he loves it...deeply.

So then, why doesn't He just fix it?

Because He gave it to you.

Can't He take it back?

Of course. But then the story would end before it is consummated.

Have you noticed that even when you call Jesus, Lord and King, He has never really acted in that capacity over you? He has never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you were about to do was destructive or hurtful to yourself or others.

Sometimes I would have preferred that He did take control at times. It would have saved me and people I care about a lot of pain.

To force His will on us, is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy. That is the beauty in the relationship of the Trinity. All three members are indeed submitted to one another and have always been so and will always be. The Father is as much submitted to Jesus as Jesus is to the Father or to the Holy Spirit. Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and respect. In fact, the Trinity are submitted to us in the same way.

What? How can that be? Why would the Almighty God of the Universe want to be submitted to me?

Because the Trinity wants us to join into the circle of relationship. Jesus doesn't want slaves to His will. The Holy Spirit wants brothers and sisters who will share life together.

So that is how God wants us to love each other. That would be husbands to wives, parents to children...in any relationship. When Jesus IS your life, submission is the most natural expression of His character and nature, and it will be the most natural expression of your new nature within relationships.

--with respect and thanks to Wm. Paul Young & "The Shack"

So chew on that for awhile. How will that change your living? Are you going to grow more into a lifestyle or will you continue to choose a death-style?

g-ram

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