SUBMISSION GOD’S WAY 3

 

God really did have one last joker up His sleeve.  Fast forward with me to Mathew, the first book of the New Testament and you see Jesus come into the picture in the least exciting way possible, through the womb of a peasant virgin and in a manger full of smelling sheep with only straw/hay for a bed no less! Who would have thought this was God’s ace, His ultimate expression of his everlasting love and desire to bring us back to His original intentions in all ramifications including the issue of submission?

Twelve years down the line, we realise this kid Jesus isn’t an ordinary kid. Too wise for his age and not afraid to ask the hard questions.. Hmm… What do we make of this? Another eighteen years go by and  we see the God-Man Jesus in the beginning of his ministry fulfilling the purpose for which he was sent. What did he have to say about the relationship between the sexes and the issue of submission?

In my little research, (forgive me if it’s not deep enough, I’m neither a bible scholar nor a pastor, I’m just a woman who loves God and his word and still has a lot to learn),  I really did not see a place where Jesus directly spoke on submission as a woman’s role. What I did find a lot in Jesus’ teaching was a redefinition of the law on adultery- it stopped being a cardinal sin for women  and an acceptable vice for men and it became a sin for both parties, thereby bringing back the equality to the sexes which was in the original plan.  See Mathew 5 27-28, Mark 10:10-12

A story that encapsulates this in a way that I love so much is found in the Gospel of John the first eleven verses of the eighth chapter.  The gist of the story was that a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus for a verdict quoting the law of Moses-stoning, and asking for His opinion. What does Jesus say? Wait for it, Wait for it… Nothing! Absolutely nothing.  For the first few minutes, Jesus just bends down and writes in the sand and says nothing…we are never told what He wrote, but we have the privilege of knowing what He finally says which is basically, he who is without sin, cast the first stone .With that simple sentence he rewrites the law on adultery forever and lays it down as the only ground for divorce that we ever read directly from the lips of Jesus!

So does that abolish the need for submission in Christian Marriages?  How should this whole submission business play out, now that Jesus has evened the playing field somewhat?

More to come! Keep watching this space!

LESSONS FROM AN AWESOME MUM …11 years gone yet you still speak…

 

You embodied motherhood, parenthood and partnership

You disciplined, corrected and trained

Kept God in the center of our consciousness

Encouraged us to individually pursue the Lord.

 

You taught me how to be a woman of virtue

To love unconditionally and serve selflessly

The true meaning of motherhood

How to be a wife, a true help-meet to her husband.

 

You showed what it meant to love the Lord

Practically in service and in everyday life

You pushed me beyond the limits I could see

And never let me settle for less than I was worth.

 

You played your role though the time was short

You did all you did with all your heart and soul

Your exit, though so abrupt and sudden

Your life, though over, still speaks.

 

Thank you mummy for fifteen amazing years

Years of impartation and seed sowing

Rewards of which, I reap till now

I always thank God for the angel on loan

I got to call her ‘mummy’!

 

 

SUBMISSION GOD’S WAY 2

So where did it all go wrong? Fast forward to Genesis 3 and you see the first time both parties refuse to follow God’s example and treat each other like equal partners as created by God- (Adam not passing the instructions down to Eve as he should have done and Eve deciding she knew better than her husband), They fall into sin and lose the perfection in which they were created.

Sin has consequences. You see the consequences of the fall on all parties, and particularly for the woman in Genesis 3: 16 which reads in part, ‘your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you’. This, I personally believe marked the beginning of what we now call ‘the battle of the sexes’ or ‘male domination’.

Women have started to scheme and conspire and men have started to dominate women and trying to keeping them voiceless.

Working my way through the Old Testament, you see the theme of woman subjugation surface in various ways- Men could marry any number of wives and it would be fine, but a woman caught in adultery could only expect to be stoned to death- so i guess women getting literarily lynched for adultery are not really new lol!  Stories of women conniving and doing almost anything to get/keep a man’s love abound as well (see Leah, Sarah e.t.c)

Other examples like Abigail w ho the bible records was married to a fool, Sarah having to lie and be married off as well, so that her husband could find favour with a foreign king….  wow, sure paints a pretty sordid picture doesn’t it?

So what does this mean for women? Is it possible to get back to the original plan of God or is that just a grandiose dream?  It definitely looks like a hopeless situation. However, all is not lost God still had one last joker up His sleeve…..

Keep watching this space!

Thanks for hanging with me.

Tobiloba.

Submission God’s Way

If you’re a girl like me that grew up with Christian parents in (preferably in an orthodox church), you probably heard a lot about submission as a woman’s role of subservience sanctioned and instituted by God from Eden and therefore so it shall be now and forevermore Amen!

I always had a problem with this depiction but to be perceived as a good Christian girl, I kept quiet and kept my reservations to myself. I began to seek God for myself on His view of submission and below is a part of what I’m discovering by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Join me on my adventurous quest in studying biblical submission God’s way.

We see the first couple in Genesis 2. And throughout that chapter, I cannot see a place where the man was told to dominate the woman or the woman to be subservient to the man.( if you can, please point it to me) The only reference to domination I see is in Genesis 1:28 which reads ‘And God blessed them and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth  and subdue it….

If you’re like me, you’ve probably picked upon the fact that God gave ‘them’ the mandate to dominate the earth, he did not tell either one to dominate the other. They were both to be submitted to God (their maker) and play the respective roles He had given to them.

They were to learn how to relate with each other by watching the way God related with them,-as equals and as friends, hence we see God coming to them in the cool of the evening daily to hang out  with them as friends and  equal partners.

This was the original intent of God for the institution of marriage.

So, what happened? Where did it all go wrong?

Watch this space for a continuation

Tobiloba