"Have you tidied your room?" "Have you forgotten you're supposed to be doing the washing up?" "Make sure you're back before 11pm." "Do you have to play your music so loud?" "How many times have I told you..."
Welcome to the warzone of teenage existence.
For a lot of my friends, this is how they see Christianity. Reluctantly following a set of rules which kill all fun, and crush all freedom. And just as they've left their teenage years behind, with all the parental oppression that came with them, so they're also not too keen to return to their limited childhood experiences of church and religion.
And they're not far wrong are they? Christianity is about discipline, and serving, and sacrifice, and following rules. It certainly can't be joyful.
Even for a Christian, it can be hard to see obedience as a chore sometimes. I either tend to over emphasise my 'freedom' as a Christian (which doesn't actually mean I can do whatever I like), or tie my faith too tightly to my performance in 'obeying' set rules which I imagine help me love Jesus more.
True obedience is neither of these.
Living in obedience to God brings two things. Firstly, it brings glory to God as we demonstrate in our attitude that we are only creatures and that he is the creator - the only one capable of running the universe. Secondly, it brings God's blessings as we live as he wants us to live.
Think of how God set up the world. Adam and Eve, in wonderful relationship with God, were given one rule to live by. Obey, and they both acknowledge him as ultimate rulemaker (so bringing him glory), and also continue to experience relationship with him (so enjoying his blessings).
That's where most people who aren't Christians trip up. Obedience is about obeying rules.. but only in the context of a relationship. True obedience must have God at its heart, otherwise it is not just worthless, but offensive to God. There is no reluctant keeping rules "because I have to", but rather because I love the rulegiver and believe that life was meant to be lived along the path of freedom he has laid out.
Nowhere will you find a better example of obedience than in Jesus. In every way he kept and fulfilled God's way of living, showing us what real life is really about. Real life lived in joyful obedience to God.
Sin made us believe that it was humiliating to be always seeking to know and do God's will. Christ came to show us how noble, how blessed, how pleasing to God a life of obedience is. When God gave us the robe of creaturehood to wear, we did not know that its beauty, its unspotted purity could only come from obedience to God. Christ came and put on that robe himself to show us how to wear it
A Life of Obedience
, Andrew MurrayLet obedience to God be motivated by your relationship with God through Jesus, rather than by routine, habit, or fear, and you'll see that the way of obedience is the way of joy - life lived to its fullest.
Hallo Andrew. I think you last paragraph ...says it all!
Thank you!
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