Well, what about Jenny: She’s very down on herself. She doesn’t like how she looks, her weight, even her LIFE, very much at all. Her kids have her wrapped around their little fingers. Her husband hasn’t stepped foot in the church since their marriage – and he treats her like garbage. Her boss, surprise, surprise – takes advantage of her endlessly. He blames her for his mistakes and dumps on her all the work no one else wants to do. She just takes it – she’s humble. And she knows humility – she lives it. Does she? Really?
What about Jenny? Is there anything we can do to help HER find genuine humility? She thinks “submission” means she is supposed to get trampled by everyone in life.
Once again, simply look to Christ.
HE is our perfect model for submission because He – being equal to the Father in everything – became one of us and ????ted himself perfectly to the path God had set before him. So does Jenny have to go through the torture her Saviour endured? No – Christ wasn’t caught off guard here. You might recall what happened in Luke 4:28-30 when a mob drove him up to the edge of a cliff so they could throw him off. They weren’t ****ALLOWED**** to take him off course – he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. He charted a path according to God’s PLAN to rescue us all from the curse of sin by becoming that curse for us – He blasted through death and hell and opened our way to heaven.
Now Jenny’s path leads to heaven and her journey is to GLORIFY GOD here as well. But she needs some help to do that and to chart a path of genuine humility. She needs to start by respecting the FACT that she is a priceless child of God – and beautiful to HIM. Her time here is valuable and HER life is a critical part of God’s saving plans – it’s time to take things seriously.
With her children – who has the God-given authority? She does. She needs to use it to help them grow into Godly people who know how to function properly in society. They are not allowed to push her around, she works up a list of consequences / rewards for certain behaviours – gets her husband on board, and prepares to fight and win those battles with them. It’s her job.
Her husband is a different matter. It’s time to have a talk with him. She will do her best to be a good wife to him, but God’s Word has given her clarity – he is NOT allowed to cheat on her, or to abandon her and put up a wall completely shutting her out of his life. If that happens she would not be guilty for divorcing him, because HE has already effectively ended the marriage. He is not allowed to hit or abuse her. It’s illegal and she will not be wrong for calling the police right away if it ever happens again. On the flip side – if he wants to work on improving the marriage, she will do WHATEVER she can to help and support him.
At work she takes the hard step of setting up a meeting with her boss. She explains that he is not allowed to yell at her and call her nasty names – if he does, she will report him to his boss. His behaviour hurts a lot of people at the office, and it has to stop. If she gets fired for doing what is right; so be it.
Has Jenny forgotten how to be HUMBLE? No – she’s learning genuine humility. It’s a hard path illumined with Godly wisdom – but she’s going to start walking it.
