For discussion purposes, let me state the obvious. We are not generally a people who are submissive.
We are fighters, resisters, loud objectors and pushy negotiators. We are always out to get what is in it
for us. Rarely do we meet people who solely give of themselves for the good of those around them. We
see this most clearly in the political arena. It’s always been dog-eat-dog, but lately, it seems, it’s more
like dog-murder-dog and then sell the mutilated parts to the highest bidder. In other words, our political
climate feels like a birds nest to me.
When I was a kid and my dad would take me fishing, he’d use an Ambassador 5000 reel. I thought he
was kin to Jesus because of how he could cast that reel! Every time I tried to cast it, I would create a
birds nest. The line would instantly get all tangled up and it would take dad 30 minutes to straighten it
out. Right now, with me looking in from the outside, our government feels like a birds nest.
Some of this is the fault of politicians on both sides. I think the larger fault lies with the culture. We have
created a culture where everyone is right and no one is wrong. I’d rather be a construction worker in
Siberia than a politician on the national level in our country today. Why is the political state of our union
so shaky right now? Because we can’t even begin to understand what it means to submit. We take the
right to vote as the power to tell the politician what to do. And right now, no one, it seems, can agree on
what the politician is supposed to do. They can’t seem to do anything right. No matter the decision they
make, someone is upset with them. I understand people who have no peace, arguing for a seat at the
table and shouting their views at one another. It makes sense to me for someone who doesn’t know
Jesus to act like their going to war whenever their political buttons are pushed. However, I’m baffled as
to why Christians consistently act like this. Submission is something we should have a handle on. Why
are we so quick to get our feathers ruffled?
Submission is more than a word. It is at the bedrock level of Christianity. We learn to bow our lives and
bend our hearts when we first meet Jesus. It’s in that moment when we confess, “I can’t do it anymore!
I can’t fix myself! Jesus, please rescue me and transform my life!” that we first taste submission. You
can’t come to Christ without it. Neither can you walk with Jesus without learning to submit daily. We
can’t compartmentalize our submission. We can’t say, “I’ll give this area of my life to Jesus, but I’m going
to retain this one for myself.” The moment you give your life to Christ, you become His. You no longer
own the rights to your life. Christians confess that God is ultimately good AND powerful, meaning, He
has the ability to do whatever He wants AND the desire to do what is most good for us. So, we choose:
we lead or God leads; we own our lives or He owns us.
If following Jesus is all about ownership, we have to ask the question, would Jesus act like we are acting
when it comes to politics? Would He be involved? Absolutely. He wants believers in every level of
government. But would He be snarky, rude, arrogant, selfish, and even murderous when it comes to His
opponents? I think we all know the answer to that question. What do we do? What can we do? We can
submit.
We can submit to the leaders God has placed in office until they cross a line that He has established.
Then we resist, but we do it respectfully, not hatefully. We can pray for our leaders, and not just so that
we get our way. We pray for God to bless them, reveal Himself to them and use them for His glory. We
can support our leaders, again, as long as they walk in the moral and ethical boundaries God has
established. And we can love them. You think I crossed a line with that one? Jesus tells us to love our
enemies, pray for those who persecute us and go the extra mile with the ones who demand things of us.
You think that’s too far? That’s exactly how far Jesus went for us.
Yes, our political situation is shaky right now. But we are not in a situation God can’t fix and bless. The
only way we will begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel is if Christians start submitting to one
another. Who’s going to start? Democrats? Republicans? Libertarians? Certainly not. The Church is being
invited to blaze this trail. Are you ready?