When I was living in New Jersey, we called them “circles.” Elsewhere they’re called “roundabouts,” little islands of land in the middle of a busy intersection to expedite traffic flow. Instead of four-way stop signs that are too often ignored, at roundabouts drivers are expected to yield to approaching traffic.
The trick is determining who’s got the right-of-way. Even when certain it’s you, it’s wise to proceed with caution in case another driver approaching the roundabout thinks differently. Sometimes it’s necessary to yield even when it’s within your rights to keep going.
Before these traffic “merry-go-rounds” were created, yielding was still an important part of driving safely. One of the laws of physics is two objects can’t occupy the same space at the same time. So, in addition to familiar red hexagonal stop signs, red or yellow triangular yield signs were placed strategically. Their purpose – to effectively warn drivers that vehicles might be approaching from another direction and if so, let them go first.
On today’s highways it’s obvious yielding isn’t a natural human tendency. Drivers speeding down the roadway are apt to squeeze into any available space rather than yield, even if it gains them only one car length and shaves perhaps three seconds off their arrival time.
Roadways aren’t the only places where we might yield to others. Entering a building, for instance, might prompt us to yield to someone who’s arrived at the door the same time. Sometimes it might be an act of kindness to yield in the grocery store line to a customer with only a few items to check out when we have a full cart. Such common courtesies, however, are often disregarded in favor of, ‘I got here first. After me, you’re first.’
In the political sphere, representatives sometimes “yield the floor” during a hearing to others who have pertinent contributions for the discussion. (Although in today’s adversarial climate, that’s increasingly rare.) On TV talk shows we see unyielding participants insistent on proving what they have to say is far more important than anyone else’s.
The concept of yielding is vital to what the Bible teaches. We live in a world where everyone seems to be demanding their rights. Our Constitution even includes the Bill of Rights, amendments that specify fundamental rights guaranteed by law. But in God’s economy, being a Christ follower often means giving up our rights.
Instead of stating we are to yield, however, the Scriptures use another term many people find equally bothersome: Submission – or submitting.
Even as children, the concept of submission rankles us. There’s the story about a little boy who refused to sit in his car seat. He didn’t care if it was for his own good or that the law required it. He just wasn’t going to sit down.
Finally, the father stopped the car, turned around and insisted that his son sit, or he’d face consequences when they arrived home. Finally, the headstrong little tyke complied. But after his father resumed driving, he muttered, “I’m sitting down on the outside – but I’m standing up in the inside.” He might as well have been wearing a sign, “Will Not Yield.”
As we grow older, the circumstances change but our unyielding, submission-averse mindset doesn’t. Whether at work, in our homes, or in everyday activities, we resist being told what to do. We want things on our own terms.
A genuine encounter with Jesus Christ has a way of changing that. Especially when we understand even Jesus recognized what it meant to submit; He didn’t go to the cross because He had nothing else to do that day. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the evening before being crucified, Jesus agonizingly prayed, “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (John 12:27). He later added, “Not My will, but Your will be done.” There is no greater example of submission.
What could have motivated such sacrifice? Love. Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, a price we could never even conceive of being able to pay.
God might not command us to give our lives for Him, although many have done that rather than renounce their faith. But the Lord does ask us to submit – to yield – in other ways: First of all, to Him, by obeying His commandments and responding to opportunities He sends our way.
Then there’s submission to others, serving them in the name of Christ, even if it means giving up something tangible or offering time and energy in response to a need we can fill. As the apostle Paul exhorted believers in ancient Philippi, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).
There’s also submission to our spouses. This is an especially sensitive subject. Ephesians 5:22 instructs, “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,” but this strikes some as demeaning. Perhaps the word ‘yield’ would be easier to swallow, since it suggests more a matter of willing deference.
It helps to read this teaching in its context. After stating, “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church…,” it offers clarification: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). How did Jesus love the Church? He gave His life for it – the body of believers – in the most literal sense. The matter of submission – yielding – applies equally to both spouses.
How can we live in such a selfless way when, like the little boy, we’re tempted to be sitting down on the outside while standing up on the inside? Only through the love and power of Christ living in us through His Spirit. We bring the willingness, the desire. The Lord provides the power. As the apostle Paul declared, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
