The BasicsSample

OBEDIENCE

If we want to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, there are some very basic things that we all must do. We often refer to these practices as spiritual disciplines. One of these disciplines is something many people rarely think of as a discipline to practice. It is the practice of Obedience.

Many of our spiritual disciplines are designed to help us be able to live as God would have us live. For example, in prayer, we commune with God and listen for His Voice. We become more intimate with Him and more familiar with His Heart. We also bring to Him those things we struggle with that keep us from faithfulness in life and ask for wisdom and power to know and do His Will. Through the Scriptures, we learn God’s Truth, come to a greater understanding of His Ways and Will, and find guidance for our lives. Fasting, Scripture memory, worship, solitude and silence, journaling, and Scripture meditation are all disciplines that help us get to the place in which we are able to live most fully as followers of Jesus Christ.

These disciplines only take us to a point, however. Often, we acquire knowledge but are content with the acquisition of it. We enjoy our communion with God but are like Peter, who wanted to build a place to dwell on the Mount of Transfiguration and stay there. Jesus, however, knew there was something to do at the base of the Mountain where a demon-possessed young man needed deliverance. To follow Jesus means that there is always work to do. Learning more about God’s Will and His Ways is vital; communing with Him in intimate fellowship is critical, but the life of Obedience is both a desired result of other spiritual disciplines and a discipline in itself. The spiritual discipline of Obedience is a critical and often overlooked discipline for our spiritual lives.

In John 14:21, Jesus says, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” Here, Jesus is saying that true discipleship is more than what we know or what we feel. Obedience is the most critical component of a life faithful to Christ. Jesus makes the point repeatedly as He said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the Will of my Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). Jesus also asked the question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not what I say?” (Luke 6:46) It is evident that Jesus placed a priority on Obedience. It was not those who are hearers of the Word only that are pleasing to God, but those who are doers of the Word, according to the book of James. Obedience matters.

Sometimes, we don’t know what to do, but more often, we know what to do and just don’t do it. This is where Obedience must become a discipline. We must be disciplined in order to do the things we know to do as followers of Jesus. We should strive to be disciplined in our devotional life, to fast, to tithe, and to share our faith with others. God is honored and pleased by Obedience. We need to remember that through intimacy with God, as we commune with Him in prayer and worship, we learn from His Word, and as we understand His Heart and His Truth, we practice the discipline of Obedience. The Lord says to us, “Here is the way; walk in it.” All our basic training as Christians is to enable us to walk in Obedience to all that God says.