Saturday, August 14 Should we not more readily submit ourselves to the Father?​—Heb. 12:9.

[Áine]

Saturday, August 14

Should we not more readily submit ourselves to the Father?—Heb. 12:9.

 

One reason why we might find it a challenge to submit to Jehovah is that we all inherited sin and are imperfect. So we have rebellious tendencies. After Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate the forbidden fruit, they set their own standards. (Gen. 3:22) Today, most of mankind still prefer to ignore Jehovah and decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. Even those who know and love Jehovah may struggle to submit fully to him. The apostle Paul faced this challenge. (Rom. 7:21-23) Like Paul, we want to do what is right in Jehovah’s eyes. But we must constantly fight the tendency to do wrong things. Another reason why it can be a challenge to submit to Jehovah is that we are influenced by the culture in which we were raised. Many human ideas are in conflict with Jehovah’s will, and it can be a constant struggle to free ourselves from common ways of thinking. w19.09 15 ¶4-6

[Elnathan]

As imperfect humans we have rebellious tendencies and our upbringing play a vital role in shaping us, and it can influence our thinking. Nevertheless, we do well to heed the scripture in today’s text, to ‘readily submit to Jehovah’.
We do that when we earnestly ask Jehovah to help us fight any sinful tendencies.
Rely on Him not on other people to guide us on how to do things that are pleasing to Him, as Our Father. 

[Vinnie]

 To me, the days text from Heb 12:9 centers around  the importance of respect for Jehovah. When we have respect for authority, we readily submit ourselves. But if we are stubborn, prideful or stiff necked, we will "kick at the goads". If we recognize this in ourselves, then we have the opportunity for self correction.

[Sister Twister]

It’s interesting that the point is made about how our culture affects us , we could allow our behaviour or our dominant mental attitude be in line with the world because of the strong views around us , but as Christians our DMA must always be in line with Jehovah and that often means fighting cultural traits .