Isaiah 55:7

AMP – Let the wicked leave (behind) his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let them return to the Lord, And He will have compassion (mercy) on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

NRSVUE – let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

VOICE – Let those who are busy plotting violence and doing wrong stop right now, turn, and do right. Let them turn back to the Eternal so they can experience His compassion. God will excuse our past wrongs. Our God’s forgiveness is inexhaustible.

Returning to God

God calls those going against God’s commands to abandon the path they’re on. They must return from the decisions, mindsets, and actions. Sin starts in our desires, plans, and intentions to oppose the commands of God. Jesus’s ministry seeked to expose the sinful desires behind humanity’s actions. A sinner was called to return back to the relationship that God created with them. This involves a humble faith, submission, and a restored relationship with God. God receives those who return in this mindset with mercy.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: When you think about people repenting from sin and turning towards God, what comes to mind?

The Path of Restoration

The path back to god shows as a simple, yet difficult path, all at the same time. A humble faith is something that we don’t, or at least I don’t, hear put together. We are to approach God with humility. God wants us to be honest and truthful with Him, for He already knows what’s going on in our hearts and in our minds. When I heard this when I was younger, I often questioned: “Why would I need to tell God anything if He already knows it?” I feel like this was (and is) a valid question. What I have learned over the years is that when we share the things that are weighing us down, we acknowledge that 1) it’s a struggle and 2) we want to fix it. Often what we share with God are the things we’re struggling with: relationships, health, addictions, and more. These are things that are causes stress and strife throughout multiple parts of our life. We try to hold on to these things ourselves, trying to figure out how to overcome them, how to manage them, how to work through the pain – and sometimes it causes more stress than it doesn’t. When we work up the courage to admit: “I’m struggling. I can’t handle this on my own. I need help.” It’s a sign of strength, even if it feels like weakness. We bring this to God, for his strength will shine through our weakness.

When we do this, we then move to a place of submission. Now, this term has been misused and manipulated many times, so let’s step back and get a universal definition of what submission means in this context. Submission, by biblical definition is the act of yielding or surrendering one’s own will to the authority or will of another, often in obedience to God or other established structures of authority. It’s putting aside our own agenda on how to do things, and committing to following God’s will. At it’s foundation, it describes the relationship between humanity and God. This shows our faith and obedience to God. It shows up in five ways: martial submission, mutual submission, submission to authorities, submission to Christ. We’re going to keep our focus on the submission of Christ for today. Christ’s submission to God’s will is our foundation about how submission should work for us. It’s about humility, sacrifice, and obedience to God’s will.

I’ll talk about it more in a little bit, but I want to touch on more thing. The restored relationship we have with God. We admitted we needed help, and that the path of life we were on was wrong. We came to God looking for help and a willingness to submit to His plan for us so that we can navigate the world with love and mercy. We will find healing and restoration in our relationship with God, how treat ourselves, and how we treat others. The ultimate goal of a restored and transformed life can only be found in God.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: Through humility, submission, and restoration – which are you in need of right now? How can you lean on God to help you find that?

Reflecting Submission

Let’s roll back a little bit to talk about Christ’s submission, using Philippians 2:5-8 as our landing point.

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human,

8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.

Jesus’s submission is showed in verse 8, where Paul is pointing us to direct our submission towards. Jesus came to earth as a human, taking on a real life fleshy body and sharing the conditions that humanity faces outside of sin. Jesus willingly laid side His godly powers and privileges that He rightly had, choosing to become a servant of the world instead of seeking worldly power. It’s a reminder to us that we should reject selfish ambition and to serve one another in live. Jesus submitted His life fully to God’s saving plan He did not merely endure death; He accepted it as the appointed sacrifice for sin.

Rejecting selfish ambition can be a difficult things to wrap our minds around because this can come across as subjective. What may not feel selfish to you can feel selfish to others, and vice versa. How do we then navigate this then? As I tend to do, what does it mean to be selfish? I want to look at this from a biblical and emotional perspective.

Biblically: An excessive focus on one’s own desires, needs, and interest, often at the expense of others.

Emotionally (based on the APA): The tendency to act excessively or solely in a manner that benefits oneself even if others are disadvantaged.

The common factor is: excessive. It’s okay to say no to others. It’s okay to turn down opportunities. It’s okay to respect your boundaries and emotions. Sometimes, we need to turn down the asks from others in order for us to replenish our energy, our minds, and our souls. Remember, even Jesus had to go away from the crowds to seek rest and restoration. However, when it becomes excessive, is when it can be viewed as a problem. We are called to love our neighbor, which means helping out when they are in need, standing up when they are suffering, and ensuring that they receive the same love and mercy that you have received. We are not called to live life alone, for it was the first thing that God recognized wasn’t good during the creation of humanity. We need to remove the barriers in our hearts and minds from helping others and go out to serve one another. To do it out of kindness, not obligation. To do it out of compassion, not selfishness. We must remove ourselves out of theway, so that we can hear the needs of others clearly, and respond accordingly.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: Jesus shows us that submission is about removing our selfishness and committing to serve others. What does that look like for you? How can you commit to serve others more?