Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7 KJV)
Submit to the Lord as a child submits to her father
We are submissive-bound creatures in a submissive-oriented world. God created us to submit to Him. Despite the fall of man and this sin-cursed world, that has not changed. We still have a basic need to submit to higher authority.
Most counselors will affirm this, however unintentional, when they say troubled youth need structure and boundaries. Children get messed up when those who represent authority neglect to enforce appropriate discipline and fail to demand proper submission to the rules. Although in a state of rebellion, these young people long for someone worthy of their submission. Thus gangs are formed.
Nevertheless, let’s back up here a minute. We all …
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:270-29 NIV)
The Only Begotten Son
Have you ever asked God why? Many people say we are not to ask why. But there are myriads instances and events that make us wonder. And God says we are to approach Him as a child. Children ask why…a lot.
One of the events that has made humanity pause and ponder throughout the course of history is why did God choose a stable and a manager for the birth of His Son the King of kings? Was it simply to confound and shame the wise of this world? Read More and View What Child is This?
Enjoy the sounds of Christmas as you prepare for Jesus’ second coming
Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?But thank God, though you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed. And having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action). (Romans 6:16-18 AMP)
July 4th marks the day of independence for Americans. We celebrate it with pride. And so we should…many good men and women have died for our freedom to pursue life and happiness.
Freedom seems to be the desire of every human soul. But is it possible? Were we created to be free?
Face it, liberties only seem to free us from one form of bondage to enable us to chain ourselves to another form.
According to the Bible, we are slaves to whomever or to whatever masters us. We become servants to other people, our spouses, our parents, our children, our employers, obliged to do their bidding. If not people, food, drugs, alcohol, materialism, video games, the internet, or some other substance becomes our master.
What a pathetic lot we humans are!
Not only do we submit to physical slavery, we yield ourselves to spiritual lords as well. We either succumb to the laws of sin and thereby become slaves to it, or we surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby become the servants of righteousness. See Romans 6:18.
God created humans to worship, praise, and serve Him. But we resist His control and subject ourselves to other forms of control…other masters…masters that set us in chains, weighing us down with shackles so cumbersome we sink instead of soar. And our souls continue to cry out for freedom.
Thus, we find our only hope for freedom comes from submission to Christ. He came to set the captives free from physical and spiritual bondage. He did it by submitting Himself totally to the Father’s will. By His example, we understand how to live free from the bondage of sin and dependent on God the Father.
Yeah, it sounds like an oxymoron to say He frees us to make us slaves to righteousness. But since we are prone to slavery, isn’t it better to succumb to God? In doing so, our souls are set free.
Encouraging Today's Christian 