It is often subtle, but it is always with us. It is often celebrated, but it is always destructive. It motivates us to seek out "our rights" even if our rights run over and crush the rights of others. So often, we might be moved by it, and think that it is a beautiful virtue to treasure not a characteristic to grieve.
We are defiant people... and we enjoy it that way.
Let me ask this question: how would you respond if someone asked you to submit? Not necessarily submitting to them, but being submissive in general.
What rises up in us immediately after considering the question is telling. What floods our thoughts tells us what is in our hearts.
Ephesians 5:21 describes the heart of a group of people who work together and relate together under the leadership of the Spirit of God: "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."*
To "submit" is an ugly word to us. We have seen those who have used another's submission to take advantage of them, to gain selfish power over them. It seems unjust. It may even seem un-American.
But, is it good? "Good" like things were in the Garden of Eden "good." Of course, people will take advantage of another's submission. People will think of submitting as weak. We may feel like we will be someone's doormat to wipe their muddy boots on...or ignore altogether. (Really, who ever notices their doormat?)
This is not an invitation to lose your identity or dignity so someone else can feel a sense of power. This is an invitation to be a part of restoring what was lost in work and relationships. It was defiance that motivated the Man and the Woman to eat from the forbidden tree. It is only humility that can recreate what was lost on that day.
Notice that it says "submit to one another" before the text commands any one group to submit to another. That changes everything! When God's Spirit infuses Jesus's life in us as we live our lives in community with others, what He creates is a group of people who work together and relate together, flavored by Jesus' humility.
This humility defies our defiance...and undermines the sin that erodes at everything that really is "good" like the "good" in the Garden.
Another way to put it: God wants to give us good in our relationships and our work by giving us the heart of Jesus to serve one another. The freedom we long for is not found in demanding that we get our rights, but in being set free from the tyranny of always having to get our way.
There is a freedom that is so free that it gives us the ability to defy our defiance and submit to one another. Because Jesus knew his identity as a Child of an accepting Father and knew his power as the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth, he could freely submit himself to the Father’s will and give himself as a servant to defiant people. The freedom that Jesus has, he shares with us. That freedom is a gift he gives to us that makes us want to let go of any desire to keep our rights. Jesus’ freedom shows us that the defiant freedom we fight for is not freedom enough.