When I read Richard Foster’s book “Celebration of Discipline”, I was quite surprised to see Submission as one of the spiritual disciples. Submission is not commonly seen as a discipline that can be practiced. But after reading Foster’s book, I saw that Submission is indeed an important discipline that Christians should have, one that we should strive for.
Let me quote at length what Foster says about Submission:
“I said that every Discipline has its corresponding freedom. What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. The obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today. People will spend weeks, months, even years in a perpetual stew because some little thing did not go as they wished. They will fuss and fume. They will get mad about it. They will act as if their very life hangs on the issue. They may even get an ulcer over it. In the Discipline of submission we are released to drop the matter, to forget it. Frankly, most things in life are not nearly as important as we think they are. Our lives will not come to an end if this or that does not happen. If you will watch these things, you will see, for example, that almost all church fights and splits occur because people do not have the freedom to give in to each other. We insist that a critical issue is at stake; we are fighting for a sacred principle. Perhaps this is the case. Usually it is not. Often we cannot stand to give in simply because it means that we will not get our own way. Only in submission are we enabled to bring this spirit to a place where it no longer controls us. Only submission can free us sufficiently to enable us to distinguish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will. “[1]
Submission underpins human relationships. Paul taught wives to submit their husbands, children to obey their parents, and bondservants to obey their masters (Col 3: 18-22). Paul asked Christians to submit to the governing authorities (Rom 13:1). Paul also taught us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21).
It is only when we know how to submit in human relationships that we know how to submit to God. The ultimate call for submission came from Jesus who asked those who want to follow him to “deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Self-denial is the greatest form of submission. This forms the basis of our relationship with Jesus.
May we evaluate ourselves in the light of these teachings and learn to practise Submission as a discipline. And may the freedom of choosing to submit enable to us to experience true joy in our relationship with others and blessings from God.
[1] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (PerfectBound, 1998), 111.