Be Submissive

J.J. Stark

February 2016

Week 6

IGNITE Class 10

Inductive Bible Study (IBS)

Be Submissive

“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account, let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.” – Hebrews 13:17 (NKJV)

God allows people to come in authority at specific times to for a reason.  Regardless of how those people use their positions, good or bad, nothing is so out of control that the Lord can’t work everything together for the good of those who love Him.  Often He uses these periods of poor leadership are used to teach believers patience, endurance, and trust in Christ, and history has shown that during greatest turmoil the most expansion of the faith occurs.  I think of the heated presidential campaigns in the U.S., and it is saddening that to see the turmoil our government is in right now.  We have digressed so far from the Biblical foundations our country that was birthed on, that society’s moral standard has become muddied to the point of legalizing the very corruptibility it strove to rid, and it has all been in the name of “freedom and equality.”  The thought that the next president could determine our country’s unity is a disquieting one.  The first segment of Hebrews 13:17 is especially hard to swallow at this time – “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive.”  I am to live in submission to those over me, even if it is against my beliefs and standards.  It is through this, though, by living my life like Christ that the most impact can be made.  The time has come more than ever, for we who are in Christ to rise up and spread the light of salvation, and leading the to the Lords truth!  For myself, I have to remember that as a child of God, my true citizenship is in Him, and I need to view this time as the harvest – and a very ripe one at that.  In Romans 8:37-39, Paul gives an excellent statement regarding this very thing, saying, “³⁷Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  On a non-political note, I’m very thankful for the leadership here at Ignite and Potter’s Field Ministries.  Hebrews 13:17 is a very accurate statement regarding any true leaders – they watch out for your souls, as those who must give an account – and the staff here very much live “watching out” for my soul, of which I’m grateful.  Now I must do as the rest of the verse says by making it a joy for them to operate over me, and I not make any excess grief for them, as it most certainly wouldn’t be any profit to me! 

Application:  Today I will be punctual to all my classes.  Also, during the rest of my time in Ignite I will also do whatever I can to be as little burden possible to ease the load of whoever I’m serving under (currently Austin and the RA’s).