submission: a virtue

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beau, our dog loves socks. he is a sock fiend. clean socks, dirty socks, it doesnt matter. i constantly chuck socks because he chewed a hole in them. any time i see him with a sock he automatically drops the sock and lays down. he knows he’s in trouble. he doesnt try to fight or wrestle over the socks. i’ve won; he submits to me.

my view of Christian ethics has largely been shaped by a virtue approach to ethics. (you can read more about it here, here, and here, plus a ton of books). basically, our behavior isn’t informed by lists and rules, but by character (e.g. sermon on the mount). virtues transcend cultural conditioning, modern mores, and societal sins.

one of the virtues that often gets overlooked is submission. but perhaps no virtue is as important in living in community (think, in your family, church, neighborhood) than submission. submission moves past the talk of “my rights,” “what i’m due,” “my want” to concern, deference, and support for the other. in fact, submission is paramount to a healthy marriage, and it’s not just wives submitting to husbands. the apostle paul instructs couples to “submit to one another” (Eph. 5.21 TNIV). it’s a two way street.

but submission isnt only a position of weakness. it isnt just giving up the sock because someone stronger than you won. submission is most powerful when it’s willful, when it’s sincere and not begrudging. submission can be demonstrated by letting someone go in front of your in line/traffic, changing the channel to what your spouse likes on TV, or dying in humiliation on a cross while people laugh and your friends abandon you.

christian ethics dirty ephesisian 5:21 Evotational fiend lays down socks submission virtue wrestle Filed under Evotational |