Love And Freedom - A Talk On Total Submission - Part 2

If you missed yesterday's post click here to get caught up.


QUESTION #3-

Why are you so scared to “Totally Submit”?  What is keeping you from letting that guard down?

For me, I am afraid to allow myself to be vulnerable. What if it happens again? I am afraid of what I will find out about myself.  I am afraid of failure.  I am afraid that people will see a woman who doesn’t have it all together.  I woman who struggles through life.

I’ve said this so many times…we can appear to have a perfect life for a few hours at church, or out with friends and even with a few keystrokes on the computer, but if we are honest with ourselves and others we will see that we are all the same.

But isn’t that truth?  Isn’t that honesty? Isn’t that why we are so affected by comparison?  We see one person’s perfection and want it, when in reality their lives are just as messy as ours.

Let me read a verse that the Lord has really laid on my heart a lot lately:

“He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

with all your soul, and with all your mind.  

This is the greatest and most important commandment.  

The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  

All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-39

It doesn’t have any but’s in there or “Unless ______________has happened to you.”  NO!  No matter what your circumstances are, love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength.  You must love others, even the ones who have hurt you, or the ones who always get everything you have ever wanted, or the ones who have a husband that brings them flowers everyday, or the ones who have the most well-behaved children, or the ones with your dream house or the ones who are hard to love…

If there is resentment, whether it comes from bitterness, judgment or jealousy,  then you cannot love the Lord in TOTAL SUBMISSION!

Let’s see what the Lord says about love:

The Lord speaks so much about love.  It is the greatest commandment, it is so much more than a “feeling”.  See, everything in our Christian walk rests in this…LOVE.

If you look at Galatians 5:22-23, what is the very first outflow of a believer?  That’s right…LOVE.

This is how other’s will see that we are different.

Let’s dig a little deeper.  What IS Love?

1Chorinthians 13 lays it all out.

Love is:

Patient – takes forever to get anything accomplished with kids AMEN? But if I show no patience for them, how can I expect them to show patience for each other?

Kind

Does NOT envy – my best friend is a natural interior designer. Has a beautiful house. Sometimes I catch myself beginning to get jealous of what she has.  This doesn’t prove my love to her, nor does it show the Lord that I trust that He knows what is best for Me!

Not boastful – we should boast in NOTHING but Christ

Not conceited/proud – this is selfish and begging for gratification from other’s which is not fulfilling AT ALL.

Not Rude

Not selfish

Not provoked/easily angered

Does not keep a record of wrongs – sometimes when I get frustrated with my husband I hold it inside until all of a sudden all the little things make me upset and I have kept a list of all the wrong.

Finds NO joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth – rejoice when others find the truth or blessed, not resentment because they are now getting attention.

Bears all things/Protects

Believes all things/Trusts – Instead of waiting for someone to mess up…trust them.

Hopes

Endures all things

Question #4-

What can you do when these circumstances arise?

My husband does this thing called “bouncing his eyes”.  Men are visual.  So, when there is a bad commercial on TV, he changes the channel.  When he sees an underwear add, he hands it to me to rip out and throw away.  He has installed Covenant Eyes on our computers to be proactive about the temptations that come up on the internet.  Being proactive, having a plan and not lingering is what he should and does do.

For us women, who are prone to playing the comparison game, or replaying every conversation over and over in your head until it is so blown so out of proportion that you don't know what is right from wrong, we need to "bounce our thoughts".  Turn away from it.  Refuse to linger in those thoughts.

This isn’t only a suggestion, it is a command!

“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 

whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, 

whatever is commendable-if there is any moral excellence 

and if there is any praise-dwell on these things.”

Philippians 4:8

Question #5-

So now what?  Get practical and think of some things that you can do.  Better yet, what do you need to ask the Lord to do IN YOU, because, let’s be honest, it sounds really nice to just “bounce your thoughts” and “think only on those things that  are pure”, but we cannot do that in our own strength.  The Lord has to do that and we have to TOTALLY SUBMIT these things to Him in order to give Him freedom…to give us FREEDOM!