As if they were Christ...

There are three main interpersonal relationships discussed in Ephesians 5 & 6 - man/wife, parent/child, and master/servant. In each of these, the latter is to submit in some way to the former. As long as each person is a servant of God with godly goals and Christian love, it should be relatively easy for the underling to submit. Hmmm... But then there wouldn't be much to challenge us and make us grow. It's like the verse: "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" Matt 5:46 Don't pat yourself on the back if you find it easy to submit to your Christian parents who rarely require anything of you that doesn't make sense. The Christian way goes far beyond - beyond to treating others (including the humanly "unlovable") as if they were Christ. ("Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matt 25:40b) It is the practical manifestation of my love for God. The more I see Christ (not in terms of godly qualities) in others, the more my attitudes toward and responses to them should change. I should love them as God loves them - unselfishly, just because they are them. Such practical love will enable me to submit where submitting is due.