Whom shall I fear?
So I've been reading Ephesians and I keep coming back to certain verses and reading them differently depending on the day. Today, after talking with Aaron about some struggles, I realize so much of it comes from what I think about other people.
So after having a pity party with myself, I decided to open up to Ephesians. I realized in church today that I rarely ask God what he thinks. I just look around and decide what I think and do it. When I have a problem, I may in all genuineness ask a friend for advice, but I find myself listening more to their advice than to the Lord.
And the one verse that came alive to me today was this:
"...submitting to one another in the fear of Christ."
Submit isn't a term we like to talk about often. Because we often visualize submitting to things we don't like- nasty bosses at work, spouses who demand the impossible, someone asking us to take on one last responsibility, and the list goes on. We don't like to submit because we aren't submitting to one another IN THE FEAR OF CHRIST. I realized today, that I submit to one another IN THE FEAR OF PEOPLE. I'm naturally a people pleaser. I don't like that term either, but in some way it means that God created me to be caring, compassionate, sympathetic, and gentle and somewhere along the way instead of submitting to others in the fear of Christ, I've submitted in the fear of people. I'm still learning what it means to fear Christ, Maybe more to come on that later in the week? For now, I know it means that he is Holy, he is worthy, and He is good. And that's good enough for me.
So after having a pity party with myself, I decided to open up to Ephesians. I realized in church today that I rarely ask God what he thinks. I just look around and decide what I think and do it. When I have a problem, I may in all genuineness ask a friend for advice, but I find myself listening more to their advice than to the Lord.
And the one verse that came alive to me today was this:
"...submitting to one another in the fear of Christ."
Submit isn't a term we like to talk about often. Because we often visualize submitting to things we don't like- nasty bosses at work, spouses who demand the impossible, someone asking us to take on one last responsibility, and the list goes on. We don't like to submit because we aren't submitting to one another IN THE FEAR OF CHRIST. I realized today, that I submit to one another IN THE FEAR OF PEOPLE. I'm naturally a people pleaser. I don't like that term either, but in some way it means that God created me to be caring, compassionate, sympathetic, and gentle and somewhere along the way instead of submitting to others in the fear of Christ, I've submitted in the fear of people. I'm still learning what it means to fear Christ, Maybe more to come on that later in the week? For now, I know it means that he is Holy, he is worthy, and He is good. And that's good enough for me.
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