Submit Yourself

Christ Submitted to God...Man Submits to Christ... The Wife Submits to Her Husband


And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. -Genesis 2:21-24.

We hear these verses all of the time but it never really seems to hit home for most people. Sure it sounds good to say that we are one flesh but we really don't WANT to be ONE. I've noticed that people are too caught up in being individuals who happen to share the same last name and some bills but they still believe themselves to be individuals. Husbands want to go one way and wives want to go the other way. There is always this push and pull. Even the Lord says, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand."-Matthew 12:25.

All too often, marriages consist of two people trying to be the Indian Chief. About a year ago my wife and I attended group counseling at church. Within the course there were several women who admitted that they did not know if they would be able to submit to their husbands. This is a very important problem in most marriages because there cannot be two heads. Don't get me wrong, I can empathize with women on this subject. On one hand you are raised to be independent and self sufficient and then on the other hand you are called to submit to your husband. That can be a hard pill to swallow.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.-Ephesians 5:22-24.

These are not my words but are the words of God. Many times women refuse to submit to their husbands, who by order of God deserves that respect. But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.-1 Corinthians 11:3.

Before women start to tune me out, I am not saying that a woman becomes our child or pet that we can order around without her say. A wife is also to be respected and consulted about how the family will be run, however she must still yield to her husband. She should have chosen a Godly man because when you chose a Godly man, you know that you can trust his steps. Christ submits Himself to God, man submits himself to Christ, and a woman submits herself to her husband. When these steps are properly followed, there is no chance for failure. As it currently stands, some men aren't willing to submit to God and when they do submit to God, their wives do not submit to them.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it. Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”-Genesis 3:17-19. When the family is not living according to the will of God, the husband is held accountable, not the wife. She and the children cannot just do their own things.

Marriage, in it's own way, is our religious faith all wrapped together. It's about submission, serving, humility, love, forgiveness, purity, and spirituality. Submitting to your husband and letting him be the priest and the leader of the home is not for the husband’s benefit but for the wife’s. Ultimately, your actions are about pleasing the Lord. When we fail at that, it's because we are deficient in one or more of these areas. We are so busy fighting to keep these individual deficiencies that we allow our marriages to falter. We are too selfish and self centered to make this thing work. There are too many people saying “I” and listening to this new age hype of what marriage should be. Marriage has always been and will always be two individuals becoming one flesh. The sooner people get back to that, the better marriages will become.