Living Our Faith

01/29/24 – 02/06/24

Freedom Through Submission

By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  02/01/24

William F. Buckley, conservative author and founder of National Review magazine, once said in an interview, “The most important intellectual enterprise is the distinction between right and wrong.” Often our thoughts about right and wrong get blurred. We allow the world’s view of sin to change our perspective of God’s Truth. One moment’s worth of compromise can dull our senses to God’s Truth.

Our emotions are notoriously undependable. If you rely solely on your feelings, you will find yourself becoming both miserable and confused. This is true for every relationship, but it is especially true of husbands and wives. In intimate relationships, we need to be sure that we live life from a perspective of what is true and right according to God.

We also need to make sure that we willingly submit to one another. This means we value one another as God values each of us. For example, we listen in kindness to the views of our spouse or our friends because we love them and not because we are forced to be in their presence. James writes:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:1-3),

Genuine happiness does not come from getting your own way or by avoiding God’s plan. Happiness comes from obeying His Word and His will. It comes from obedience and submission.

Obedience is not meant to be a chore or a duty. When God is involved, submission and surrender are both liberating and fulfilling. In fact, when your life is submitted to Jesus, you will experience His lasting freedom and joy each day.

Prayer: Lord, thank You that You do not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17) or like my emotions. Help me to seek what is right in Your eyes, including loving my family and friends and showing that love in humility and kindness—the very example of Christ. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them” (Psalm 119:45-47).