“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I have an announcement to make. We’re all in submission mode. Because I’m in submission mode, it’s not my place to tell you how you should do your submitting. I’m still trying to figure out my own. I don’t have time to look over your shoulder and tell you how to put yourself one down. But if you want some hints from God about submitting, keep reading in Ephesians. Wives are to submit to their husbands. Husbands are to sacrifice themselves for their wives. Children are to obey their parents. Jesus gave himself up for all of us. This is a profound mystery, and we’re all in this together. We’re all in submission mode. Any attempts to isolate one Christian’s way of submitting from another’s are failures to submit.

What does a mutual submission society look like? No one pulls rank because there isn’t any. There is orderliness because we agree upon it and submit to it. It can get a little awkward at the entrances and exits to our endeavors. Courtesy can jam things up. “Let me get the door for you.” “No, let me get the door for you.” “You go first.” “No, you go first.” “Who’s in charge here?” “I don’t get the question.” “Well, then, who takes the credit?” “I still don’t get the question.”