Control yourself, not others

Colossians 3:23-24
23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 

Today's devotion was about submission.  You know in Ephesians 5 where it tells wives to submit to their husbands, husbands to love their wives as themselves, slaves to honor their masters, children to obey their parents, father's not to exasperate their children, and masters to treat their slaves correctly? So, basically, no matter what is going on in this fallen world, we are to be submissive, or respectful, to others for their sake not ours.

Well, well, well. That is a really great idea, but let's get a reality check. This is really hard to do! How hard is it to do? One person commented that when they became a Christian, people noticed a change in them. They became a good person: no more swearing or lying or course jokes. However, then they noticed that there were a lot of people who appeared to be "good" and many of them were NOT Christians. That is so true; I know lots of people I think are much kinder and more considerate of others than I am and these people are not Christians.  

So, what is the difference? How am I a good example if people who are not Christians can be kinder and more patient than I can? How can people tell Christians apart from this world?  The answer: Ephesians 5. Submit yourselves one to another. If you submit to one another, you don't have to have your way, you want what Christ wants.  You do what others want, as long as it is in God's will, because it is the right thing to do and it allows others to know they are important to us and God. We seek God and His teachings and pray unceasing to stay close to Him, so that we can know His will and submit to it. 

If God knows everything and is everywhere and is all powerful, we would be crazy not to submit to His will...His perfect will.  We need to submit to others, not our own little agenda in order to reflect Christ.  We need to control ourselves first, through the strength of Christ, and not try to control others. God will take care of "the others." Then, and only then, will people look at us and say, they are different; they are not just kind and good. They are different! We are different, because our focus is on serving Christ!