In this series on “How Big is Your But?” we’ve looked at the children of Israel’s response to the news from the spies who looked at the giants in the land and said “we looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them.”
Their response to worry and fear is only significant in how it affects our response today to situations that look impossible.
If God has told you to do the difficult are you going to obey?
Stop and think about it. What are your options?
Without obedience, do you know Jesus?
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 1 John 2:3
Without obedience, do you love Jesus?
If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. John 14:23
Without obedience, are you a friend of Jesus?
You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:14
We can’t know Jesus, love Jesus or be a friend of Jesus if we don’t obey. We can’t let fear or worry stop us from doing what God’s asking us to do.
Please don’t consider this condemnation. I simply need to set up discussion around the excuses all of us make to do our own thing. Next post we’ll look at 3 lies we often use to excuse disobedience. For now I’d like to know if seeing these verses in this context motivate you to examine your hearts.
Do you believe that Jesus needs to be Lord of all if He’s really Lord at all? Love to know your heart. Leave your comments below.
photo credit: Eri_pl
I can’t say that obedience is mandatory to be a Christian but obedience is most definitely a product of being a follower of Christ. I have been disobedient to His call at times but it didn’t make me any less of a Christian. As an obedient follower I can testify to an unimaginable level of peace, no matter what stands in my path.
Obedience is mandatory for maturity. See John 15:14-16 (NIV)
Since each one of us has his free agency, the ultimate determination of what is inspired of the Lord, what is right and wrong, true or false, can be made by each of us. Those who earnestly inquire, under the Spirit of God, will enjoy a companionship, not only of the Spirit, but of others who seek truth. Thomas Carlyle said, “I have always found that the honest truth of our own mind has a certain attraction for every other mind that loves truth honestly.”
There is no greater truth than that spoken of by the Savior: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), and, He continues, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6), and “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37).
All who seek to rise above themselves must make a humble and honest inquiry to determine where truth lies: an inquiry in their hearts as well as in their minds and in their lives. May each of us consciously seek to know the truths of God and to courageously live those truths in love and thanksgiving.
We are free “to act for ourselves and not to be acted upon. We are “free to choose liberty and eternal life or to choose captivity and death.
Paul, thanks for pointing out Jesus is the truth we need to listen to.