Submission to God’s Will
Obedience to the Word of God rightly takes center stage in most discussions of living as a follower of Christ. Nevertheless, I would suggest that Christians as a whole would benefit from a greater emphasis on the second aspect of faithful Christian discipleship—namely, submission to the will of God. Submission to God’s will could be a broad category that would include obedience to His written Word, but I particularly mean the daily walk before the Lord in which we lay our requests, desires, and prayers before Him and then actively submit to His sovereign will as it plays out in our lives. And as in all areas of Christian discipleship, Jesus gives us the perfect example of what this looks like. In particular, His prayer to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane shows us the way. Jesus’ words on the night He was betrayed are some of His most remembered, as He prays “My Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39). I wan