“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
James 4:7-10

The summary command in these verses is simple: Submit yourselves to God.

To “submit” means to “accept or yield to a superior or to the authority or will of another.” When we submit to God, we acknowledge His authority over us and willingly give ourselves over to Him.

It’s what we find Jesus doing as He prayed in the garden: “Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Knowing what was before Him, Jesus acknowledged He would like another way for God’s will to be accomplished – something other than the cross. But despite that desire, He submitted Himself to God’s will. And in doing so, He not only accomplished what we could never accomplish for ourselves; He also left us an example of what it means to submit ourselves to God.

Do you see that submission played out in the rest of James’s passage?

How do we submit to God? We purify our hearts because it is God’s will that we should be sanctified. We grieve over our sins because it is God’s will that we should become like Jesus. We humble ourselves before the Lord because it is God’s will that Jesus receives all the glory due to Him.

But submitting ourselves to another feels dangerous, doesn’t it? When we truly submit ourselves to another, we are putting ourselves in the hands of another. In that sense, submitting ourselves is an act of faith—we believe that the one we are submitting to will not harm us.

That’s why, for us to submit gladly to God, there are a few things we must remember—things about who God is.

To gladly submit to God, we must remember that:

1. GOD IS LOVING.
Why is it important that we gladly submit? We must believe that God is loving, cares for us, and will not take advantage of us.

Unless we are convinced that God loves us, our submission will always be tinged with a little bit of “what if…” What will God do to me? What will happen in the future? Will God really take care of me?

My friend, there is no need to worry. God has left no doubt about His love: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

2. GOD IS STRONG.
It’s not enough to believe that God is loving; we must also believe He is strong. Plenty of people in our lives might love us and have great affection for us, but they do not have any real power to do anything on our behalf.

But God does. He is not only loving; He is strong. So, we can gladly submit to Him, knowing He desires the best for us and knowing He has the power to make it happen.

3. GOD IS WISE.
Here, we find the other thing we must believe about God. He might love us and be strong enough to work things for our good, but is He wise enough to know what is for our good? Again, the answer is “Yes.” He is always working for our good, even if the road to that good is painful.

Our mighty God is loving, strong, and wise. And because He is, we are not only commanded to submit to Him; it is foolish not to do so.

Written by Michael Kelley, Guest Contributor

DIG DEEPER
Read “Because He Loves Us” by Bryant Wright