Felt impressed to share todays devotional with the SI family. It now follows-
OBEDIENCE PART 3
What is obedience? That is a simple enough question. Exactly and specifically what is obedience?
Obedience is doing anything God commands or asks us to do regardless of the personal costs or consequences. That is only one sentence but it surely a mouthful!
It is easy to be “obedient” when it is something we want to do. In that case it is really just us doing things we desire anyway. That doesn’t take much commitment. We wanted to do it even without Him asking.
However, where the rubber meets the road is when we are asked by Him to do something we absolutely do not want to do. Are we still submissive and obedient because we trust Him or do we buck and kick trying to throw that desire of His from our back?
When Paul was writing to Timothy under very straining times of severe persecution he told him, “ Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him”. 2 Tim 2:2-3 ESV
Do you see that? The obedient soldier is concerned with pleasing his commanding officer. He is not consumed with his own desires, wants, or preferences. People who are consumed with those things are civilians not soldiers. THAT is the problem we have in much of the North American Church. We have professed followers of Christ that function as spiritual civilians and do not operate as the army of The Lord! If being obedient or following God becomes a little difficult they bail out. If the heat gets turned up on them they jump ship. Far to much of the church has become a pack of whining cry baby sissies. The word of the Lord to that is GROW UP! Paul said it well in our verse from 2 Timothy. Again, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus”.
That is where the obedience to God rubber meets the road. Are we obedient? Are we willing to do anything God commands or asks us to do regardless of the personal costs or consequences. That is the path to being a great warrior for The King. The other path leads to compromise then remorse and embarrassment at the day our works are judged. Be strong! Push through the obstacles! Train until you feel you can go no further... then push on some more. That is the path to becoming a powerful tool in God’s hand that can make you accomplish great things for The King and His Kingdom.
Obedience.....a word only 9 letters long that has the balance of untold millions of eternal souls hanging on it.