REFUSING TO SUBMIT IS LIVING IN SIN

 May 2, 2017  Lori Alexander Refusing to Submit is Living in Sin – The Transformed Wife

Blogs that make me “feel” good, talk about not judging, and enjoying their “messy” lives don’t hold much appeal to me. I love to read blogs that challenge and convict me to become more like Christ. It is why I love the Bible so much. Trey, an older man, comments on my blog once in a while and many times his comments convict and challenge me. This is why I like them. Here’s one of his great comments on my post Women Flagrantly Refusing to Submit.

Rebellious wives use every excuse in the world for why they CAN not or WILL not submit to their husbands. They can make all the excuses they want. They can call it anything they wish. God calls it SIN.

If you are a wife who calls herself a Christian yet refuses to submit (in everything) to your husband then you are living in SIN. It’s just that simple. Quit thinking you are holy; you’re not. Quit thinking you are godly; you’re anything but. Quit thinking you are serving Christ; He is not fooled. The only person you are fooling is yourself.

If you do not live daily in complete submission to your husband, what you’re really doing is blaspheming, maligning, bringing shame upon, reviling, discrediting, dishonoring, and slandering the Word of God. Do you call yourself a Christian woman? Then quit making excuses and start obeying the God you claim to know, love, and serve.

Do you really think that you know Jesus Christ? 1 John 2:3 says, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.”

What does God command of wives? Read for yourself. Titus 2:3-5 says, “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

Not convinced? How about this one. “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (Colossians 3:18).

Think that you don’t have to submit to your husband, because he is lost or he is not living as holy as you think he should be? God knew you would try and use that excuse. “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior” (1 Peter 3:1,2).

Still not clear enough? God really spells it out here. “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:22-24). Do you see that ladies. God not only commands you to submit to your husband. He commands you to submit to your husband in EVERY THING.

You see what God commands you to do. Do you really know him?

Are you claiming that you love God but still refusing to submit to your husband? “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Do you consider Christ the Lord of your life yet still not submit to your husband? “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).

I don’t want to come across so harsh but seriously, God only speaks directly to wives in a few places in the Bible and in almost every place, He instructs (commands) them to submit to their husbands. How can any wife call herself a Christian while refusing to obey the PRIMARY command that God gives her? I would submit that she can’t.

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:7, 8

WOMEN FLAGRANTLY REFUSING TO SUBMIT

 April 14, 2017  Lori Alexander

From a comment on Are Wives in Submission to Their Husbands Inferior?

I grew up seeing two generations of women flagrantly refusing to submit, and the effects on their marriages was disastrous. No unity, no sweet companionship, but a very them (men) vs. us (women) mentality. And both men were God-fearing, good men who could never do anything right in their wives’ eyes. That just made me all the more ready to respect and submit to my husband when the time came. Why not stop the generations of sin?!

What’s presented in the Bible is such a gracious, complementing, honoring, and beautiful thing. Submission is only hard because we don’t wish to be humble, or held accountable, or willing to put someone else’s wishes above ourselves: pride and selfishness, to be exact. And sometimes a husband is not perfect (well, never until heaven).

Submission is not about feeling good about my place in life, but it’s about my obedience to God. Am I willing to throw it all in and do what He has commanded me to do, being obedient and reaping his rewards (husband’s praise and children calling her blessed)? Or am I hardened and disobedient, wreaking havoc around me? Are there hard days? Yes. And yes. And yes. Then, I wrestle with God and His Word, until I’m back in submission, ultimately asking Him to teach me to love and submit better.

But, do you know how amazing it is to trust in our Creator? That taking a submissive role/a servant’s role (because the greatest of these will be the least and least will be the greatest) opens up a peace that can’t be explained. That quiet, knowingness that I am doing God’s will is priceless. It’s taken years for it to be as easy as breathing, and it will continue to take years for me to master it.

Have I seen the blessings? Most certainly. My husband regularly tells me he couldn’t live without me and my kids tell me I’m the best mom ever. So even when I’m asking my honey what he wants to eat this week and making my menu around his likes, or when I ask him if there’s anything I can do for him today, or when I make sure I pass all decisions through him because that’s what he’s asked me to do, none of this is unreasonable. And it’s not about him ‘winning’ or me ‘winning’, or me feeling oppressed (and I don’t, ever. Isn’t that amazing!). It’s obedience to God. I know I’m doing His work and being a submissive servant. And it is so good.

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Ephesians 5:24