Do You Obey?

Nothing can make you bristle like the “O” word. I pose this question tonight, not because I am seeking to find you out, but rather so you can find out. Often when believer types think of obedience, their minds turn straight to obeying the rules, known as the commandments. In a general sense they sort of conclude that obeying means following a set of standards, presumably falling short of those standards and most likely on the wrong side of things. Add to that, people’s interpretations of the rules, delivered by judgments, and pretty soon you give up this whole obedience idea. Indeed, it is a hard way to live and nothing you will ever do will change that reality. God only gave us the rules so He could establish a standard from which His only begotten son could redeem us. He has foreknowledge, remember? He already knew none of us could carry out that kind of obedience, so He gave us an alternative. He provided an obedience, not an obedience to following the rules, but in the obedience of believing what He did for us in Christ. He already solved our biggest problem. Now it is our job to obey what He said He did. We obey by believing properly. We obey by thinking properly. We obey by taking control of our minds and getting them to consider what is true, rather than that which is a lie. The lie is that you have to earn God’s love and favor. The truth is that He already gave it to you. Do you obey?

The real obedience in life is controlling what you will and will not think about. The competition takes place in your mind. You are either winning or losing right between your ears. You are losing, albeit temporarily, each time you indulge in thought that hurts you, bothers you, assails you, criticizes you, or judges you. You are actively thinking thoughts contrary to your own best interests. You aren’t making yourself better. You aren’t just being honest. You are thinking things that are not true because of what God did for you, that to which you were being obedient. It takes a real effort not to judge yourself, for example. The adversary, as the accuser, accuses the brethren night and day. He is coming at you all day long, pointing out your faults, highlighting your weak spots, bringing up your foolishness. You won’t ever win that fight. You can’t win because your consideration of the lie was a false starting premise, i.e., you are not okay. The work of God’s son made you far above okay! Far above. Will you obey?

Can you even imagine what your life would be like if you chose to silence that contrary voice from your thinking? Sometimes that voice sounds like your mother of your father. At times it sounds like your judgy friend. Other times it might be a leader in the church or some other man or woman that you respect. Sometimes, incredulously, it is even appears to be your own voice. But, it is none of those voices. It is what hides behind those voices. It is that which hides behind many facades with one sole intention, to bring your heart and mind to a lower state; to get you to doubt your trust in God; to steal your life away from you. You are not doing God or yourself a favor by listening to that garbage. You are being deceived into working against your own self. The only way you can beat that deception is by refusing it access into your mind. You have to learn to obey by not thinking and pursuing certain thoughts. The Apostle Paul said, “I judge not mine own self” and he had some Christian executions in his past. You see, he didn’t justify and evaluate himself by his own behaviors. He judged himself by the work of God’s dear son. He obeyed. Do you obey?

Can you imagine what your life would be like if you no longer judged yourself? What if you went a whole day without some self-examination or chastisement for not doing something right? What if there were no laws you could break? What if you were truly free? Wouldn’t your life be so much better? Wouldn’t you still choose to do good things because they made you feel better than when you did bad stuff? But, if you did make some mistakes, wouldn’t you get over them so much quicker? Man, it would be like being a kid again before all of the presumed guilty court appearances took place. Kids don’t spend all day judging themselves. They have to be taught that by other people, older people, defeated people. No criticism towards you as the whole world is on that track. Been on it myself and still foolishly return at times. But, there is another way in which you can choose to go. You can choose obedience to the faith. Obedience in all that God did for you in Christ Jesus. Obedience in accepting what He did for you over what you do. Obedience in your thought life by refusing entree to those poisonous thoughts. That, my friends, is the only kind of obedience that will ever get you anywhere. Do you obey? Obey that…

Just some good thoughts…