People in the U.S. are being asked to go through a particular political process and they may not be aware of its ultimate outcome. Some propose the idea that we need to yield our thinking on the subject of racism. The thinking goes racism is bad (everyone, or should I say almost everyone agrees) therefore get rid of racism. But the thinking goes a step further that states the eradication of racism must be legislated (through Congress) out of our society and this will be the moral standard of right and wrong. Those politicians that don’t agree to how this eradication should take place (and by extension the citizens that cast their votes for them) are wrong and cannot and should not remain in the new political reality. But two issues arise from this thinking: Where does it end and who decides?
If we submit to this thinking where does it end? Choice for health care? Punishment for criminals? How the environment should be regulated? Community with each other? Business between private parties? Who gets the privilege of being a U.S. citizen, etc.?
And who decides? If we cannot have free elections on whom we want to make these choices for us then a central government will make these decisions for us, but by then we will have lost our freedom and will live under authoritarian rule. But this places front and center the idea of can we trust the central government with our fragile freedom?
The Bible does instruct and reveal God’s thinking on this subject. Submission to a central figure is definitely a subject that is taught throughout Scripture,
and the key component is that we do so with complete knowledge and personal willingness. The difference here is the idea that God is COMPLETELY good COMPLETELY strong and only has the very best intentions for us. In other words He has proven Himself completely trustworthy.
We are learning a lot about trust in the ecclesia. It’s not as if this subject hasn’t been taught throughout Christian history, because it has, but the issue is not knowledge of submission to Christ, it’s the experience of submission within the body to Christ.
Jesus wants us to have an understanding of the subject but much more importantly he wants us to experience it. So how is that done? 1Peter 4:13 reveals that as we participate with Christ (as a body of believers) we are able to receive Him and subsequently His glory is revealed. Well, certainly we can say with some sureness that as we experience submission to Christ we can see with our own eyes how He proves His love for us.
As we lift our praise, love and exaltation to the Lord 2Corinthians 1:3-7 says that Christ is willing to comfort us. He wants to use the Christians within the body to receive this comfort from Him and in turn offer it to those around us. Paul knew from his own suffering that God can be trusted in this. He had proven it to Paul THROUGH his experience with Him and will prove it to anyone who attempts to go down this path.
In plain English it means as we praise the Lord and declare we want to be intimate with Him we receive his love/comfort and subsequently can give this love to others. That is if we yield to Him in submission. This is the beginning of the experience of submission. It is not enough to say we, as Christians, believe this to be true, we must experience it first hand and as we receive Christ into our lives we can give it to others. But on the other hand, if we have not received Christ we certainly cannot give Him to others. We would be empty handed. In this very crucial process we can see for ourselves if we are willing to give our trust to Him but as the ecclesia grows into maturity the shackles of mistrust fade away and a brand new reality comes front and center.
Speak Your Mind