The Whole Pie
“…submitting to one another in the fear of God.” (Eph. 5:21, NKJV)
Submitting to one another?? Haven’t we mostly only talked about how wives should submit to their husbands? But this says, “submitting to one another…”
Hmmmm… Could it be that a husband can sometimes, when it calls for it, submit and yield to his wife? Could it be?
The other day, Matt and I were sitting at the computer together working on an email we were going to send someone. He typed out a certain line, and out loud I just kinda said it a different way, as a suggestion. He paused for a moment, and then said this scripture to himself out loud, “Submit to one another in the fear of God.” And then he went on to adjust the line according to my suggestion.
Maybe you think it was humorous that it took him realizing a scripture in order to listen to me, but I’m thinking he didn’t “agree” with my suggestion, but he decided to consent anyway and in doing so, he remembered that scripture.
What just happened? Was he submitting to me? The wife?
Indeed, my husband yielded his already-typed-out line to my chancy suggestion.
That’s what submission is, when you yield your way to someone else’s way, even though maybe you wouldn’t have done it like that naturally.
Why did my husband do that? Because he knows he doesn’t know it all. Years back the Lord showed him ever so clearly that a husband is only half of the pie, and the wife is the other half. Together, we are a whole 100%. If we only ever partook of his half, and never my half, we as a couple would only ever be operating at 50%. And eventually we will run out of pie.
I like how the CEB says this verse: “…and submit to each other out of respect for Christ.”
Don't get me wrong, now. You know me, I'm all about wives submitting to their husbands. But my husband has taught me that there are times when it is good and right for him to yield to me. It is him loving me and respecting me as his help mate. And it is not emasculating to him in any way. On the contrary, to me it shows his strength.
When we respect the Jesus in each other, when the husband realizes the wife has a part of Jesus to offer, and the wife understands her husband has a part of Jesus to offer, it becomes easier to yield to each other on a regular basis. Together, we are reaching to operate in as much of Jesus as we possibly can.
Love you all,
Jess.