Submission

The literal translation of the word “Islam” is “submission.” In fact, if one reads some liberal expressions of Islam, we see them dropping the word “Islam” all together and using the English word “submission” as a replacement name for Islam. One website says,

‘Submission’ is the religion whereby we recognize God's absolute authority, and reach an unshakable conviction that God ALONE possesses all power; no other entity possesses any power that is independent of Him.

I think that most of us would say that “freedom” is one of the things we hold dearest when we think about Christianity. We highlight this aspect of our faith for good reasons. Christ certainly came to free us. Paul and others made sure we did not miss this, and they remind us continually in the New Testament of the freedom we experience in Christ. The references are too numerous to cite here.

Yet all this talk of freedom begins to make us think that “freedom” is the opposite of “submission.” This is not true. Freedom is the opposite of slavery. Freedom is the opposite of bondage. Submission is the opposite of what? It’s hard for me to even come up with the right English word…but the best I can think of is “being in charge.”

My point is that it’s difficult for us as Americans to think about submitting without sacrificing precious freedom. One of the things we see in our monuments here in Washington is the recurring, pervasive theme of freedom. We fought for it! We build monuments to it...and what happens when you build monuments to something? It’s easy to worship it.

Perhaps if we understand the difficult and counter-intuitive notion that submission and true freedom go hand in hand, we will experience the sort of freedom that God desires. Today we will talk about submission and what role it plays in the with-God life.

Mark