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Over
the past few weeks, well, probably more like months, I have been having this back
and forth conversation with the Lord. I have struggled with so many various
things in my walk, and it seems like I do well for a little while then revert
back to old self once again. It was like I had a sort of knowledge, but never
could seem to come to the full understanding of what it was that was missing
from my walk. Sometimes I draw close to Him in my words, and when I am praying
there is a knowing that He is with me, but yet I find that my heart is still far
from Him. I sing the songs at church, raise my hands because I am “feeling” it,
but yet there just seems to be something missing through it all. In our
conversations, He has, every time brought me back to a life of obedience. He
tells me that it will always come back to obedience.
There
is a theme that runs throughout the Old and New Testaments, in every book, in
the Gospels, in the Epistles and even in the book of Revelation, the same theme
runs throughout. It is a theme of obedience. From the beginning of time all
Adam and Eve had to do was be obedient to what God had asked of them. But, they
were tempted, and they disobeyed, and they threw all of humanity into their
disobedience. From Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to David, to the Kings of
Israel one thing remained, God was always calling His people back to a life of obedience
in Him. But we are a rebellious people, we really don’t want to do what God is
asking us to do, let’s face it, we are selfish people. But there His call is,
over and over again in the Old Testament for His people to just listen to His
commandments and keep them.
Now
enters Jesus. The One and only One who can or ever will walk in perfect
obedience to the Father’s will. The One and only One who can walk so perfectly
that He fulfills every prophecy, every law, every requirement laid down for us
and nails it- nails it all to a cross where He then dies for us, in obedience
to God the Father’s will. It is finished. All the requirements, all that was
against us is gone. We now live under grace. But, I think this is where we
forget that one simple theme that runs throughout our Bibles. We forget that
even Jesus tells us to “keep” His commandments. Salvation in Jesus Christ is
not a free pass to go and live your life in your flesh the way you want to live
your life. No, salvation means that you believe in Jesus Christ, and that now
your life is no longer lived for you, but now lived for Him- in total and
complete obedience to every single word He speaks.
“If you
love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) If we love Jesus we will have no
other Gods before Him. If we love Jesus we will honor our parents. If we love
Jesus we will not steal, or cheat or lie to one another. If we love Jesus we
will keep the commandments, because the love that we have for Him is seen
through our obedience to His Word. You cannot say you love God and hate your
brother. (1 John 4:20) As I ponder on this life that Jesus lived before us, I
see a life of complete and total obedience. I know that some of you are
probably saying that was God in the flesh, He is the only one who could ever
live such a perfect life of obedience, and you would be correct. But we forget
that we have His Holy Spirit, the same Person who was with Jesus while He was
on this earth is in us too. We have access to the same power and the same
strength that Jesus did. We just choose not to allow Him access.
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When I
think about my life thus far as a Christian, and I look around at the people
who are called Christians, I am saddened. Because I think more and more of us
are using grace as an excuse to live in our flesh, rather than choosing to live
a life of obedience, like the one Jesus lived for us. I think we are missing
out on a huge part of our Christian walk if we do not obey His commands. If we
say we love God, then our lives will be a life of obedience. We will choose to
live as He has called us to live, holy and separate, unspotted from the world. Jesus
walked the example before us, but we have rationalized our having to follow His
example with “well, we are sinners”, or “that’s why we have grace”. Grace is
for those who are walking in obedience to His will and sin, that is when grace
covers us. Grace was not meant for us to live carnal lives and use grace as an
excuse to sin. That is taking grace way too far, and you are using God instead
of serving God.
It
saddens me to see the state of our church today in this nation. I see more and
more women chasing after teachers who tickle their ears, and make them feel
good about being a mom and wife. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a
good wife and mother, but without obedience to God’s word first, all our
efforts are in vain. We say we love Christ; that we have given our lives to
Him, yet we choose to live in our flesh rather than in the strength and power
of His Spirit. Without obedience there can be no fullness of life. If you believe
otherwise you are deceiving yourself. A
true Christian who loves Jesus will choose to live their life in obedience to
the Father’s will and His word. A Christian who wants to live in the carnal
desires of their flesh will use grace as their covering and their excuse.
I am
not saying that we are made perfect by our obedience, or that by our obedience
we are saved. That is not what I am saying. What I am saying is that we cannot
truly live full lives for Christ if we are not obedient. The Law does not save
me, only Christ saves me. But we also cannot forget the commands of our Lord
and Savior, we cannot just gloss over the words of obey and obedience, and say
that we have grace. When we do this we take the sacrifice of our Lord for
granted. We discredit His example of obedience
and make His death a formality for our carnality. Friends, can I please urge
you to take some time for yourselves today to see the emphasis that God’s word
puts on us obeying His commands. When we say we are His, yet we do not do what
He says, we have become liars, and we are breaking His heart. We say we are His
but our hearts are far from Him.
Remember
what the Lord spoke through Ezekiel? “So they come to you as people do, they
sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them;
for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own
gain.” (Ezekiel 33:31) Does this sound familiar? We go to church on Sunday, we
say “amen” when the preacher says something really good, but then we leave and
forget everything the word of God taught us that day. We take all that we have
heard for granted and toss it by the wayside. We have become hearers of the
word only and not doers at all. (James 1:22)
I know
that I sound like a broken record, because this is not the first time that I
have written about our lack of obedience to His Word, but in all honesty my
heart is breaking. My heart is breaking for those who say they are His and do
not do the things that He asks them to do. My heart is breaking for those who
are believing that they are going to go to heaven, when in fact they are going
to be the ones He says, “Depart from Me I never knew you.” These are the ones
who tell you on Sunday how much they love you, but when some trial comes upon
your life they are the first ones to leave you. These are the ones that Jesus
says He will vomit out of His mouth. (Revelation 3:16-17) They believe they are
safe because they do all the right Christian things, they serve in all the
right Christian ministries, but their hearts are far from God. They do not obey
His word, they teach it, but they do not obey it. They preach it, but they do
not keep it. They talk about it, share it, but they do not do the things that
He says.
Let us
not be deceived, for it breaks my heart to think of all those that have
professed their belief, but have chosen instead to live a life of carnality. I
used to be one of them. I thought I was doing all the right things, serving in
all the right ministries, doing all the right Christian things, but in the end,
the one thing that I needed most in my life was not the serving, the titles,
the ministries, it was obedience, plain and simple. All those works they are
nothing, because I was not following in obedience. Let us not miss the theme
that runs through the Bible, for if we do not do the Word of the God, then we
are just hearers, and we have become lukewarm; and He will vomit you out of His mouth, and
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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