Obedience School

I've been thinking a lot about obedience.

Yesterday one of my children defied a direct order from me. I know, I know, my family is not the military and I am certainly no drill sergeant. But outright defiance? From my precious progeny? Shocking!

I ended up having to threaten the whippersnapper to get their cooperation in doing what they had been asked to do. Which made me very upset. After all, I have provided much for this child of late, in terms of money spent, transportation to and from extracurricular activities, special clothing needs, etc. You would think there would be some acknowledgment and appreciation for what they have received. You might even think that this child would jump right up off the comfortable couch immediately because of their love for their father. Surely obeying my request to complete a simple task that would not take much time is not too much to ask.

The task? To walk our dog, Daisy. A 5 minute chore at best. After all I've done, was it too much to ask?

Then God spoke to me. After all I've done for you, is your obedience too much to ask for?

God asks us to be obedient. Simple. Uncomplicated. Easy to understand. Yet so difficult for us to do!

Most of the time we would rather (as my child did) sit on our 'couches' and
a) ignore the request or
b) argue with God or
c) whine about our circumstances or
d) all of the above

I am astounded at the obedience of Jesus. In the garden of Gethsemane he prays for the 'cup' to be passed by, that he might not have to drink deeply the suffering that he knows is coming. But finally Jesus has the courage to say, "Not my will but yours be done." Obedience to his Father was of ultimate importance.

Jesus' greatest gift to God comes through his obedience. His greatest gift to us came through his obedience. Jesus was willing to obey God even when he knew that his obedience was going to result in the sacrifice of personal suffering.

Perhaps what we need most to learn in our spiritual lives is to obey. In John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love me, obey my commandments," and in verse 23 follows up by saying, "All who love me will do what I say" (NLT). Obedience is the one of the greatest ways for us to show how much we love the Lord.

May we all learn from Jesus that our love for God is not really love at all unless we are willing to learn to be obedient.