Healthy submission

​10/6/21
Today's devotion for today is based on Ephesians 5:21, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."
Paul's instructions to married couples and families have come in for their share of criticism over the years. Whether you think his words on submission and differing instructions to husbands and wives are horrifying or freeing might depend on your own experience and context in reading them.
Jesus chose me to be joined in life with him. My relationship with Jesus is the foundation for all my other relationships. Out of that life-giving relationship springs my capacity to love the other person. So then, all my relationships, including my marriage, involve not just two people but also Jesus.
And if you are not married? Or you have come out of a messy marriage, bruised and broken in the very relationship God intended to be an echo of his love for his people? Then Jesus gives himself to you every day in sacrificial love, pouring out his heart of love for you and drawing you towards healing and wholeness. As a follower of Jesus, I am called to submit to God in my life. This is expressed in love for him and, flowing out of that, love for others.
Please pray with me: Jesus, in a world where what's best for me and how my needs are being met are primary, help me reflect your light by how I love you and others today. In your holy name, I pray. Amen.