We all want to change people. We all need to change people before they drive us crazy. We all don't want people trying to change us. Do you notice the dilemma?
How can people change without us doing the changing? The Lord commands us to be submissive to one another. By submission, wives set the stage for the Lord to change their husbands, and these wives don't have to try to do it themselves (which is trying to do the impossible) (Eph 5:22, 24). Moreover, submission is the way the Lord changes all people, not just husbands. If we do what other people want, if we obey and serve them as long as they don't contradict the Lord, we will find ourselves doing a lot of pointless things. Unlike most pointless things, however, the Lord will use these events to teach others a lesson, to change them for the better (see 1 Pt 3:1-2). Also, through our submission, not only will others learn from their mistakes but we ourselves will change. Our faith will be strengthened. Submission usually doesn't have good effects immediately. Rather, it often has difficult effects at first. To persevere in submission demands that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).
Through our submission, the Lord changes the world and strengthens our faith. "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph 5:21, RSV-CE).
| PRAYER: | Father, I give up changing people myself. Teach me the wisdom of submission and make me strong enough to do it. |
| PROMISE: | God's kingdom "is like mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a large shrub and the birds of the air nested in its branches." –Lk 13:19 |
| PRAISE: | "O Lord, Your kindness reaches to heaven; Your faithfulness, to the clouds" (Ps 36:6). |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College