Mutual Submission

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Eph 5:21 (NIV)

Has your relationship to Christ changed the way you relate to fellow believers? If you have been adopted into God’s family, then all the Christ followers on the planet are now your family members. You may not be in close proximity to the multitudes of believers around the world. But, you have those in your sphere of influence who would be considered your immediate spiritual family. How are those relationships going? Are there any of your relationships that are under strain? Are there any relationships that need an extra measure of attention?

God’s Word teaches us to submit to each other as a result of our love and reverence for Christ. In other words, because we love Jesus and are rightly related to Him, we willingly place the needs of others before our own. Out of reverence for Christ, we choose to live in such a way as to benefit and bless others.

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 (NIV)
“Live in harmony with one another.” Romans 12:16a (NIV)
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Eph 4:2 (NIV)
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Eph 4:32 (NIV)

Jesus is the ultimate model of mutual submission. We mutually submit to each other in the family of God just as Christ willingly submitted to the Father’s Will. Jesus placed our needs before His own.

Let’s demonstrate mutual submission each day. Let’s give evidence to our reverence for Christ through how we interact with others within God’s family.

Pursuing God,

Stephen Trammell
Pastor of Leadership and Pastoral Care

34 replies on “Mutual Submission”

Brother Stephen, thank you for these daily devotionals.
I start my day with them.
In Christ, Glen Bedingfield

Stephen,

For the last two hours I have googled Mutual Submission and read countless writing on this topic. I am totally amazed at the mental gymnastics that people go through to deal with the topic of submission. As part of my journey I came across your writings on this topic. I was very refreshed by what was written and the word of God that was expressed.
I would like to humbly challenge the statement. “Jesus is the ultimate model of mutual submission”, if I may I would like to summit that Jesus was submitted to only the will of the Father. Jesus did not summit to the will of any man, there could not be mutuality in his relationship with man. He did humble himself and serve mankind, however submission by it definition means that there is an authority of which the only one that Jesus acknowledged is of the Father, this being actually express to Pilot at his trial.
If we are submitted to the will of our father Jesus then we will express the same love for each other and mankind in general as Jesus did. The term Mutual Submission has gotten a lot of play it the Christian circles. Most of what I am reading is simply an attempt to make the word of God in there own image. Thank you Stephen for submitting to Christ and keep up the good work.

Your brother in Christ