Refusing To Submit
When I worked as a supervisor with a company many years ago, we had specific ways of performing certain functions that differed from the ways similar companies performed them. Sometimes, we would hire someone who had worked for such a competitor company, and it meant they needed to learn our way of doing things. If the person we hired insisted on doing things the way they had done them before, even though they might be working hard at doing something, it meant they were refusing to submit to our way. Such practices were not welcomed.
Submission, a concept often misunderstood, is a fundamental aspect of our faith as believers in Jesus. Yet, its true nature is often clouded by misconceptions. Some may think it’s about the works we perform to please God, but the Bible paints a different picture. It speaks of a people who, in their zeal for God, have not fully grasped the essence of submission.
Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
New things and new ways can be challenging to embrace, especially when they eliminate our ability to merit something. God does not owe anyone anything. There’s no such thing as God being beholding to a person based on what they did for God. No matter how zealous a person may be in their efforts to impress God, He will never owe anyone anything.
Every good thing we receive from God is given to us as a gift. The only time God is pleased is when we receive by faith His generosity towards us, not having earned it, and thus, it is rooted in a demonstration of His grace and mercy towards us.
God aims to demonstrate His great love and mercy here on this earth by blessing us even though we’ve done nothing good enough to earn such a blessing. By loving and showing mercy to undeserving ones who simply believe the truth of His desire to do so in His Son Jesus Christ, the world is shown clear evidence of His goodness and greatness. It also reflects His holiness in that it demonstrates He is so different and set apart that no one could measure up to the standard of Him, and thus He must, by means of His goodness and mercy, do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
To insist on trying to merit anything from God based on what we do is to refuse to submit to the righteousness He offers. It is a rejection of the free offer of His righteousness as a gift. There will never be a righteousness that can compare to His, no matter how zealously and devotedly one may try to work to achieve it. The wisest and best thing anyone can do to please Him is simply to submit to the righteousness He offers and receive it by faith in Jesus. Receiving by faith is submitting to Him and His righteousness, and it pleases Him when we do that. True humility receives freely with thanksgiving.
