I had some attitude problems as a kid, and sometimes I was just downright naughty. I always felt bad about disobedience when I was in it, but I felt powerless to act any differently. Then, at 18, when I truly understood that I could have a relationship with Jesus—and that His good spirit could live inside my bad self—I was in…hook, line, and sinker!
The reason being born-again was so appealing to me then (and now) was because I, through this re-birth, could gain freedom from myself and my willful, but seemingly too-powerful-for-me emotions. I didn’t want to be naughty; I wanted to be good. I didn’t want to be the bad kid; I wanted to obey. I guess this must be the reason that passages about obedience catch my eye and motivate me toward even greater devotion to my Freedom-Giver.
I don’t say all of this to illustrate how incredibly holy I have become now, because I still struggle—every day. I’ve had lots of victories and many defeats, but I am equipped with the Godliness that I need to make the decisions for obedience. And this obedience is what makes me keep struggling on. It’s when I obey that I learn more about God. It’s when I obey that He gives wisdom.
Here’s what Oswald Chambers had to say about obedience yesterday in My Upmost for His Highest,
If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, “I suppose I will understand these things someday!” You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already.
How’s that for motivation? I want Heaven to open up to me! I want the deepest truths of God to be mine! I want God to reveal more about Himself to me!
Lord, help me get beyond myself so I can run straight to You.
Lord, help me to obey.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
2 Peter 1:3
Me, too.
ReplyDeleteWe've made it so hard, when it is so simple.