Submitted to the Word of God

What is the catalyst that causes our theology to affect our actions? How can our behavior align with our beliefs? Ultimately, it is an issue of surrender and submission. The man or woman who wants to please God must submit to God and his Word. Our carnal nature must die.

The cross once again appears on the horizon as the instrument by which we can live according to God’s Word, except this time it is not the cross of Calvary. It is our cross. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Those who heard Jesus speak these words knew what he meant. In their culture, the cross was the typical instrument of execution, which they would have witnessed many times. The ruling government’s primary method of capital punishment was crucifixion. Criminals died gruesome, brutal deaths upon the crude wooden cross. Vulgar and revolting, the cross imagery was what Jesus brought into the minds of those around him when he called for people to take up a cross and follow him.

The next verse in Luke 9 is even more telling, when Jesus instructs the people to put themselves on the cross every day. He states, “Whosoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (v. 24). The only path to true living is to die to self. The apostle Paul understood this principle when he writes to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul was a walking dead man. He died to his desires on a road to Damascus and lived his life from that point with singleness of purpose.

Jesus commanded we take up a cross and die daily, and Paul obeyed this command. “I die every day” was the apostle’s simple declaration (1 Corinthians 15:31). Paul’s success was not a product of his talent or education. It was his unbridled obedience and submission to God and his Word.