The Melodious

Thoughts on obedience

I want to admit that I dislike the word obedience; it’s a word that conjures up the master/slave or dictator relationship. Much of what I learned in my younger years taught me that obedience was required of me and logically or naturally my response was to rebel against it. However, one thing my mom said that stuck with me, though I have often questioned the wisdom of it, was that we should not do things simply because they are right, we should do them because we want to. Maybe I am finally getting it.

You can call it a revelation if you like, but I finally realized that obedience is not obedience when we are doing it out of fear or an attitude of self righteousness. When I do what He asks because I love Him, only then am I truly obedient. You know; like when you love someone dearly and they ask you to do something for them, you will do it without delay and you will want to do it.

I used to fear that God would ask me to do something that I could not do and that I would have to choose between obedience and losing my faith. I know it seems odd to think that way, but I feared that God would call me to some faraway place and I would not be able to submit to his will and I would fall away. You know, like the rich man that came to Jesus and asked, “what must I do to inherit the kingdom of God?”. After the man told Jesus that he had followed the commandments, Jesus told him that he should sell all he had, give it to the poor and come follow him. I imagine myself being like that guy walking away sad because I could not do that.

So, what I have come to realize now is that, God WILL NOT call me to something that he will not empower, guide me and walk with me to do. When he calls us to do something He fully intends to walk thru every step of what he called us to do. He WILL NOT ask me to do something and expect me to do it while He looks on. If I were able to do what He asked without His help, He would not get the glory; I would think that I deserved some glory(self righteousness). If the rich man would have realized that God would have given him the capacity to do what Jesus asked, maybe he would have acted in obedience.

So God knowing me and my weakness, but also knowing His promise and provision for me asks me to be His mouth-piece. I no longer fear what He will ask me to do because I know that whatever He asks of me He will empower me to do. Even if I am like Jonah and first run the other way, God WILL guide me, empower me and walk with me in the task that I am to do.

It is remarkable and wonderful how in my weakness He is made strong. I know full well that my love is not strong enough, that my attitude is not right enough and my will is not fully surrendered. What I also know now is that the only way God will get the glory for my life is when I let Him do the work through me. I will never ever be good enough, strong enough or faithful enough to deserve anything from Him, but if I choose to allow Him to take the controls He will use me, bless me, fill me, empower me, delight me and fulfill me more than anything imaginable I could gain myself.

Try this one- My first and ongoing act of obedience must be to accept His love. When I have received His love and begin to fathom the extent of His love, I will begin to reciprocate it and by doing so I will fulfill the law. Only then will my obedience be of eternal value and will He be glorified. You might think, oh that’s simple, I can do that, I know how to accept love. If you think that, knock it off, you missed the point. You and I do not have the capacity to accept His love, so I’ve come to this conclusion finally in a word- “CHOOSE”. That is all we can do, we can decide each and every day to choose. Choose to allow Him to live inside, ask for Him to come inside, to fill you, to guide you, teach you. Choose to receive His love; he will empower you with everything else. The good news is- YOU NEVER NEED TO DO ANYTHING EVER AGAIN WITHOUT HIS FULL SUPPORT!!!

Mike Palmer, 2006