~ Love and Submission ~

Last night we had a church fellowship. It was a lot of fun. I might write a post about it, but anyway. We ate (like Baptists--ha, ha!) and did sword drills (Bible games) and played hockey and sang together. It was really nice! We were sitting there doing sword drills, and God gave me a Valentine’s Day post. I hadn’t planned on doing anything, so I was surprised when Dad had us look up 1 John 5:3, and I felt God impressing it on my heart to write about some thoughts He gave me. I want to share this with you…

~ Y ~

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3

John was a big time “love guy.” In his three short books, his main topic is love. Love for the brethren, but mostly God’s love for us and our love for God.

God is love. God not only loves, but He is love. God is love itself. Because God is love, He proves His love. Where should I begin in describing the love of God?
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39
Ephesians 3:17-19 says, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

The cross of Calvary was the place where God displayed His ultimate love for the lost souls of mankind as Jesus Christ bled and died in our place. The cross--the breadth, and length, and depth, and height--is the very emblem of love. As Jesus stretched wide his arms on those rough beams, He freely offered His love to mankind. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” You see, God demonstrated His love for us with deeds…by giving His life, that we might live!

1 John 4:19 says, “We love him, because he first loved us.” We can say we love God, but unless we prove that love with actions, it is not true love. True love says, “I love you!” and then seeks to prove it by making the one they love happy and satisfied and content. Do you tell God you love Him? Do you prove your love for Him with deeds? 1 John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” We show our love for God by what? By keeping His commandments! Where do we find these commandments? In the Bible! So, the first way we can show our love for God is by reading about His commandments in His Word and then by deciding to keep His commandments.
Jesus said in Mark 12:30-31, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
These are the two greatest commandments. And besides these are innumerable ways God tells us that we can prove our love to Him. When we love Him we will obey. We will be in subjection to His Word. When we love God, our words will be pleasing to Him. When we love God, we will tell others of His love. When we love God we will live separated lives that are holy and pure. When we love God we will be different and look different and act different. When we love God we will dress in a manner that is pleasing to Him. When we love God, it isn’t a problem to dress in a skirt instead of a pair of pants (Deuteronomy 22:5). When we love God we willingly give Him 10% of our income. These are just a few examples of the commandments we will keep if we love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.

Did you notice that last part of the verse? “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” His commandments are not grievous! When we love someone, we naturally want to do things to please them. When we love God, it isn’t grievous--strenuous or difficult--to keep His commandments. Our love for God causes all these things to naturally fall into place. We love to please God because we love God, and our love for Him causes us to love to keep His commandments! The reason why it is seemingly so hard for Christians to follow the simplest commands in the Bible is because there is no love, or their love has waxed cold. We can gauge our love for God by considering how many of His commandments we keep and how many we are willing to keep--how far we are willing to go to please the Lord. God went all out for us when He sent His only begotten Son to give His life in our stead. He didn’t hold back anything, but willingly gave His all that we might know the depth of His love. How much are you willing to give?

~ Y ~

What does this have to do with Valentine’s Day? Well, we see in Ephesians 5:25 that the love of Jesus for the church, His bride, is comparable to the love of a husband for his wife. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Husbands, representing Jesus Christ, are supposed to sacrificially love their wives, which symbolize the church. Wives, in return, are supposed to be in submission to their husbands, just like we Christians are supposed to be in subjection to God, who showed His love for us. The love of the husband for his wife causes the wife to willingly be subject to him, just like the love of God for us and our love for Him cause us to want to obey His commandments and be in subjection to Him. See the correlation? This is amazing! This is why marriage is such a beautiful and sacred thing, because it represents the ultimate display of love--the love of God for the church. This is also why Satan has done his utmost best to destroy the marriage relationship and corrupt it with a society that says it’s “okay” to have a physical relationship before marriage. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4) Fornicators, the adulteress and adulterer, the whoremonger, the immoral, GOD WILL JUDGE. Those who corrupt that which God made holy for marriage alone, will stand before an Almighty God and give account on the great day of judgment. Woe, woe, woe! What a dreadful and terrifying day that will be!!!

We see that the marriage relationship represents the relationship between Christ and His bride. 1 Corinthians 3:11 outlines the order of authority God has established. “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”
1. God
2. Christ
3. Man
4. Woman
In that order. The husband is subject to Christ, and the wife is subject to her husband as he is subject to Christ. This is the order of authority. The husband and wife are linked to Christ and, therefore, to each other. When this chain of authority is broken by the husband or the wife, everything is thrown off kilter. And this is when a marriage starts falling apart. Authority problems. It’s interesting to note that Satan was thrown out of Heaven because of what? Authority problems! Rebellion to the God-established order of authority is what caused Satan to fall to the earth, his domain of rebellion, and we see this same rebellion to authority festering like an infected wound today! Husbands aren’t loving their wives, and wives aren’t in subjection to their husbands. Love and submission are the two elements that work together to create a happy marriage. Take the husband’s love away from the picture and it sure makes it hard for a wife to be in subjection. Remove the wife’s subjection from the scene and it sure makes it difficult for a husband to love his wife as he should. Why? Because the chain of authority is broken. The husband’s love for his wife makes it easy for her to be in subjection to him. This is the same principle we saw above. When we grasp God’s love for us, we love Him, and then it is not grievous to obey His commandments!

What will we not do for the one we love? What will we not do for someone who loves us? A husband’s love for his wife has a melting affect. His love for her, when displayed not only with words but with deeds, melts away any rebellion a wife may feel. His love causes the whole idea of submission to become something that is desirable! In Genesis 3:16 God said to Eve, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” After the fall, the woman was made to be subject to her husband. She would long for his security, his protection, his love. Her desire would be toward her husband, to please and satisfy him, and she would look to him for leadership. When a wife sees that her husband understands the order of authority and that he is subject to God, then it is easy for her to submit herself to him as he is in subjection to God. Likewise, when a wife is in subjection to her husband’s authority, she makes it easy for him to love her. He loves her, and she is subject to him, therefore, seeking to please him in every way possible, and all this only increases his love for her! Love and submission work in a circle, each encouraging the other, and the more each is exercised, the more intense the love becomes and the easier it is to be submissive. God showed us His love on Calvary, and His love draws us to love Him, and, therefore, to keep His commandments. The husband proves his love for his wife, and his love inspires her to be submissive to him. I think that is beautiful!!!

Gifts of chocolate and flowers are sweet and fun, but what is the most precious Valentine’s present a husband and wife could give each other? Love and submission! Nothing can compare to these. But I must say, chocolate and flowers are something a girl should never refuse. (grin) They surely encourage those two crucial elements of love and submission in a marriage.

~ Y ~

On this Valentine’s Day, I’m looking forward to what God has in store for me, for my future! I know that somewhere out there, God is preparing a godly young man just for me! And who knows? Maybe by the next Valentine’s Day he’ll have made his appearance! (grin) But, until that time, I’m preparing to be the wife he will need me to be. I’m exercising submission to him by giving it to my parents, and that will be transferred to him on our wedding day. I’m keeping my heart for him, and he will have all my love and devotion. After all, what won’t you do for someone you love? And, what won’t you do for someone who loves you?

~ Y ~

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God:
and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God, and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:
and his commandments are not grievous.”
1 John 5:1-3