July 2024

Submission is a spiritual discipline that is quite out of tune with the modern ethos. Submission requires us to be obedient and has a strong note of self-denial. Our age is more likely to celebrate self-fulfillment and self-actualization than self-denial. Submission also has some rather negative connotations due to its association with the correlative term “domination.” For one to be submissive usually requires giving in to someone or something that is dominating. While that may be true in wrestling or martial arts, in the spiritual realm submission involves more of a “giving over” than a “giving up” or “giving in.” In spiritual submission we are giving our lives over to a higher power and trusting that God will take care of us. But it must be admitted that there is clearly a directive to deny oneself in Jesus’ call to follow him: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34 NIV) And in the very next verse, Jesus reveals the central paradox of self-denial and submitting yourself to God: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35 NIV) In the end, self-fulfillment only comes through self-denial. Those who seek only their own interests end up empty and miserable, while those who serve the interests of others, and ultimately, serve God, find that their lives are thereby fulfilled.