Obedience

“When obedience is in the ascendant, He will tax the remotest star

and the last grain of sand to assist you with all His almighty power.”

– Oswald Chambers

Obedience is humiliating. Obedience is admittance that I am not my own ultimate authority and that I do not know what is best for myself. Obedience is admitting that I will fail if I do not submit to the One who does have authority over my life and who does know what is best. While obedience is humiliating it is not imprisoning, enslaving, or draining. By obeying the One who is my Ultimate Authority I am blessed.


“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7


When the Lord is instructing us to change something about our lives, to give something we value up, and to live differently for Him, we MUST obey. We don’t have to understand or see the end purpose; we just have to trust that He loves us and is guiding us in the best direction.

Now the questions from the skeptics are, “How can we trust that He loves us with all of the hurt and hardship we face each day? How can we trust that a God with all power loves us while He allows such pain?”

Of course, I’ll offer the obvious answer: We know He loves us because Jesus Christ came to earth, faced temptation for our sake, never fell into sin, died an undeserved and gruesome death, rose again and sent His Holy Spirit so that He can remain in the hearts of everyone who accepts Him as their personal Savior until the day that He calls us into eternity with Him.

Is that not enough for you, dear skeptic? At times it’s not enough for me too. At times I am overwhelmed with the burden of my sins and I seriously doubt that such a perfect God could ever love me or forgive me one more time. Unfortunately there are times that I have a dreadfully low supply of faith. Each time this occurs, I return to John 17 and Jesus reveals to me the sweetness of His unconditional love. In John 17, Jesus prays for His disciples and for those that His disciples will minister to in the future. With genuine concern, He prays for our protection and care because He is about to be crucified and will soon ascend into heaven.

“And I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” – John 17: 11-20

This prayer reveals how intimately He feels for us in our pain and suffering. He calls us to love Him and serve Him, yes. Even more, He informs us from the start that by loving Him and serving Him we will face persecution, hatred, dissent, and discouragement. He knows what He is asking of us and even before we accept the call, He prays for our protection and unity with Him! Does anyone else feel utterly amazed at His nobility and majesty?! He loves us. There is no doubt about it. He gave Himself to us and asks us to obediently give ourselves to Him.


In my life I have faced persecution on a small scale (a very, very, very small scale). The more I give my life over to Christ, the more misunderstood I become. People I love question me and instruct me to make decisions that are contrary to the instructions that the Lord gives to me. Constantly, I am bombarded with advice to take control of my life and live in a way that is more common.


I am not called to the common life! I am called to the set-apart life in and through Christ! No matter who tries to pull me down or how often, I will not stop seeking Christ. I will not stop obeying the steadfast direction He provides! His love and worthiness are too unmistakable for me to choose myself over Him!

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it.” – Mark 8:34-36

Dying to self and living to Christ will make you different, it will be a challenge, and you will feel a fight against you, but you will not be alone. Christ’s life in place of ours provides us with strength to withstand opposition, grace to accomplish unimaginably great adventures for His glory, joy to smile through the challenges, peace to comfort each other, and love to continue on with a renewed spirit each day! His life is the Life that matters, lasts, and fulfills! We have the opportunity to share in His life and it all begins, continues, and thrives on our choice to be obedient.

Sanctified and Surrendered by Caitlin Marie Stacy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.