OP is great. But scripture is vastly deep and wide. It means far more than a cursory reading reveals. I'm trying to find out what God has revealed to others. I already know what He has revealed to me. So unless someone explains what their understanding of the scripture is, I can only be edified by the scripture, and not the revelation God may have shared with them.
Hello. I'm new here. In fact, this is my very first post on CC. I thought I would answer your question as to what the scriptures referenced in #1 reveals to me.
First, let me say that I find these verses especially relevant to me due to where I believe God has brought me at this point in my life. Simply put, my spiritual walk with Jesus has been a rollercoaster, with great highs and terrible lows. Sometimes I even thought about abandoning my faith because it was often too painful but, the knowledge that there is literally nowhere else to go and knowing God is faithful kept me going.
So, my Bible study has lately been about submitting to God and what that actually looks like, which is what I believe the quotes in #1 are ultimately talking about. These quotes are just a fraction of all those that speak about submission.
I am learning that submission isn't simply doing things, living our lives according to God's commands. We all understand why the Pharisees failed so miserably doing this. As John 23-24 states, the Father is seeking worshippers who worship in spirit and truth. What I believe God is now teaching me to see is how utterly we are to worship in spirit and truth and what that looks like.
To explain the then/now of it I will relate something about my Grandmother before she died. Then, her husband had died years earlier and lived alone in her home. I thought, to be a good Christian, I should go over to visit her and give her some company. I should mention that I am an introvert, bordering on insular, so this was not easy for me to do, but I did it. Not often but as much as I could get myself to do it.
Grandma was so grateful every time I visited. Sometimes she would even cry in happiness that I had come. But I never stayed more than half an hour. I was too uncomfortable and had other things I wanted to do. But, after each visit, as I got into my truck, I thought, wow, I'm really making progress as a Christain. I felt good about myself and thought God was pleased. Then she passed away. I knew I had failed her as the family stood around her deathbed but it never occurred to me how badly I had failed God.
If I had known then what God is making me see today, I would do things differently and for entirely different reasons. I am learning that to submit to God means there is no aspect of me, no thought, no attitude, no emotion, no desire and no action that can be left to my own will or judgement. To submit means that every last thing about me must fall under the control of God and His will for me. I must let go of whatever my natural self thinks or desires and be conformed to the image of Jesus.
I should have visited my Grandmother every chance I got. Not because of selfish reasons like my self-image as a Christan, but simply because that would be God's will. My motive should have been to love my Grandmother as God would and to please God. How hard or uncomfortable it may have been is irrelevant. I can only imagine how much spiritual growth I missed out on if I had truly submitted for the sake of God's glory rather than my own self aggrandizement.
So, that's what those and many other verses mean to me. The true meaning of submission. The abandonment of self for the concern with God being the central part of me and His will.
