Obedience and Submission

When we sacrifice we may feel as if we are giving up part of ourselves to help someone else. We often tell other people how we sacrificed for our children to have the things they have. We may say we had to sacrifice in our marriage or in our work. We all have to make sacrifices but God tells us He wants submission and obedience rather than sacrifice.

1 Samuel 15:22 "But Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.’"

When we submit, we aren’t giving up things as much as we are giving in to something or someone. When we submit, we give in to other people’s ideas or opinions. Some of us submit to others who we believe will help us. However, we have to be careful of our actions and how we submit so we are sure it is God’s will and not the will of man. Submission is an action. It cannot be done without some type of decision on our part.

When we submit to God, we are allowing our own needs and decisions to be put aside and we are giving ourselves to God. We are surrendering or giving up the ways of the world so God can work through us. We are yielding to His authority. We are subjecting ourselves to God’s plans and committing to take action on doing things He asks without completely knowing the outcome.

When we submit to God, we are allowing Him to help us love as He loves. When we submit, we are doing things we wouldn’t normally do. When we submit, we are taking action and stepping out. Submission is giving wholly where sacrifice is giving a portion. God wants it all. He wants every part of us and we should submit to Him in all we do.

Sacrifice is about giving something up. Submission is about giving in. God doesn’t want us to give up as much as He wants us to get up. He wants us to get up and take action, not just give up things. He wants us to give in. He wants us to submit ourselves to Him and not to the world. We should ask ourselves if what we are doing is being submissive to Him or to the world. We should ask ourselves if what we want to do is someone else’s idea or God’s will.

It is so easy to sacrifice something we don’t really need or something we feel like we can do without. We sometimes sacrifice things we aren’t really using in place of being obedient to God. God doesn’t want our sacrifices as much as He wants our all. When we submit to God, we are taking time to read His word. We are spending time in prayer. We are doing the work He asks us to do. When we submit, we are taking action. God wants our action to be His action.

When we resist obeying and submitting to God, we are telling God we aren’t ready to do His will. God doesn’t ask us to do anything we can’t handle. When we submit to Him, we need to be ready to do what He asks. Resisting what God wants us to do is being disobedient to Him no matter what our excuses are.

Before taking any action, we need to determine if we are resisting or obeying God. We need to ask if we are sacrificing or submitting. Our actions of obeying and submitting will allow us to do good works for God and to help and have an impact on others. God will protect us and help us to succeed. It is a huge responsibility but we have to remember, we have a huge God and He will help us through it all so that we can make a difference.