Labour and Submission

This week I heard a great message on the subject addressed in Hebrews 4:11:  "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."  This is an interesting paradox, that we should have to labour to enter into the rest God has provided for us.  There is a rest God offers which transcends the cessation of activity.  This rest God speaks of can be intentionally entered no matter our circumstances, just like the peace God offers that passes understanding.  We will never be perfectly at rest until we are free from the fetters of this body of flesh, yet we are called to labour to enter that rest today.  It is not a fleeting mirage that taunts us, ever slipping from our grasp, but a state of heart and way of living we enjoy as we abide in Christ.

This touches on something I have been thinking about often of late, the contrast between being passive and submissive.  Biblical submission is something often misunderstood.  Some correlate submission and passivity, but they are complete opposites.  These two responses are defined not by outward actions, but the condition of the heart.  When someone is passive, it is defined as the absence of outward activity.  When we submit to God and one another in love, at times it can look like passivity.  Yet submission is the voluntary laying down of our will in obedience to the Father, purposing even in outward inaction to rely wholly upon God.  "Submit" is a verb; it is an action we purpose to take.  Submission to God is always intentional and impossible to accomplish without faith in God.  Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Submission is a labour of faith in which God is well pleased.  Jesus gave His back to the scourge, His cheeks to the smiters, and His hands and feet to crude Roman nails in submission to the Father.  The response of Christ to the buffeting of his tormentors may have appeared outwardly passive, but in reality it was nothing of the sort.  His path to the cross was not as a passive sheep, ambling onwards in ignorance, but was purposeful, intentional submission as the Lamb of God sent to be a sacrifice for sin.  Let us submit to one another in love, casting our cares upon Christ because He cares for us.  All our burdens He has already bourne.  We are also called to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, to love one another as He has loved us.