“…you are not your own; you are bought with a price…” 1 Corinthians 6:19,20
Understanding Dissatisfaction
As I have written on different women’s issues, and hear from many women on a regular basis about their opinions on said issues, it becomes clearer and clearer to me why there is so much dissatisfaction in life.
Perspectives on Freedom and Submission
On one end, feminists hate anything remotely to do with “submitting” their lives to anything or anyone. They want to be their own gods and make their own rules. And almost always, anger and restlessness becomes their lot. And even on the other end, conservative women, indoctrinated with years of feminist thinking, often question the Bible and find every which way to reinterpret it to suit their appetites better, experiencing that same restlessness.
The Joy of Looking to Scripture
But what freedom comes when we take our eyes off of what other people say or think, even what we think, and look back to Scripture, fall in love with our Creator, and see how perfect and good and fulfilling He designed our lives!
What peace comes with an audience of One!
The Meaning of Being Bought with a Price
I am bought with a price–I am not my own. We either hate that or love it. There is either oppression in that realization or absolute freedom.
Embracing Submission
Submitting to my Creator, I become HIS; not subject to anyone’s opinion or not oppressed by what He has asked of me. Does He ask me to wash feet? The thing that most in our culture despise?
Gladly I wash feet because it was good enough for the very Son of God as man.
The Call to Submit Joyfully
Does He ask me to submit? To Him? To my husband? To hardship? To suffering? To anything He brings me in life?
Joyfully I submit because “He has ordained whatsoever comes to pass.” And the irony comes: in submission He gives me power. I’ve never felt so free and at peace through submission as I do to the One who loves me more than I love myself. Are His laws grievous to me? Not one bit. They are beautiful and comforting, and the more I relinquish my will to His, the more joy I find and the less anxiety I feel.
The Divine Requests
What has He asked of me?
“If you love Me, obey Me.”
“Serve the least of these…”
“Walk in humility…”
“Love others above self…”
“Deny yourself…”
He has asked from me almost everything opposite the culture tells me to seek after (and even my own flesh). And then He says that when I do these things, He will give me the desires of my heart and life more abundantly.
The Truth of His Promises
So far, I have found Him to never lie.
The Invitation to Rest
Are you angry, anxious, bitter, lonely, tired? Fall into His arms with reckless abandon and find everything you ever wanted.