Many times in my life, the Lord has shown me the importance of my obedience to Him even if I don’t know what the end result will be. Sometimes He even waits to give me the confirmation that I am doing the right thing until after I take what I believe to be the step the Spirit is prompting me to take. The times when I am trusting that what I am doing is what He is calling me to are some of the times that I feel most connected and most intimate with Him. It’s funny how obedience works. It’s one of the most important things we can do to worship God and show him our love, but it is often one of the hardest things to do.
The tried and true Oswald Chambers daily devotional book My Utmost for His Highest highlights obedience in its November 2 devotional. I received this book as a gift for Christmas my freshman year of college (Thanks, Stef!) and have read it every year since. I highly recommend it.
In today’s writing, Oswald (we’re on a first name basis) speaks to the importance of obedience. He says that “Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit.”
Our sermon Sunday echoed this. Am I doing what God is calling me to do? Am I living out His plan for my life by seeking Him daily to discover what my step of obedience should be in that day, in that moment? My sweet friend Mary Ellen often talks about moment-by-moment, circumstance-by-circumstance obedience. Obedience in each and every situation, no matter how small it may seem.
Oswald says, “Jesus Christ will not help me to obey Him, I must obey Him; and when I do obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small petty incidents, altogether unnoticeable and mean; but if I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God, and when I stand face to face with God I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed.”
The Lord wants to use us. He wants us to live the abundant life He has planned for us. We so often strive and stress over how to be used, how to have a more abundant life, how to know Him more. Simply obey.
Oswald concludes, “If I obey Jesus Christ, the Redemption of God will rush through me to other lives, because behind the deed of obedience is the Reality of Almighty God.”
Obedience leads to revelation. The more we seek to obey Him, the more He reveals His character and His plan to us. We become more in tune to His desires for our lives and for our role in the lives of others.
Are you doing what God has called you to do? How are you seeking to obey Christ today?
No comments:
Post a Comment