For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 niv
I don’t know about you but the word obedience always fills me with dread. It always reminders me how I can never measure up no matter how hard I try. As a Christian it is a word that has plagued me more than I was willing to face up to.
As I child I found it impossible to be obedient, even though I was often too scared to be disobedient because I didn’t like the consequences of being in trouble with my parents, inside I wasn’t a willing participant in being obedient. I often resented my parents for making me do what I should want to do.
I hate sin, I hate what it does to me and to the people around me, to those I love, to those I call friends, to my neighbours, to the world at war against each other.
So if we hate sin why is it so hard to be obedient to Jesus’ call to follow him, he who is the only one without sin.
I have had many ‘addictions’ that the Lord Jesus has undone in me, much of which he has shown were strongholds because they were based on my own thinking/belief system rather than on the truth of who Jesus is and his way of thinking. I need to bring all my thoughts captive to Christ rather than allowing them to take me captive to sin.
However, the conflict between the love of food and the desire to lose weight has been the ultimate challenge for me to overcome….or not.
Over the 40 years of this battle, I have moments of physical transformation where I could do enough exercise to counteract the food intake and many a time exercise has encouraged me to make better food choices.
However, the love of food always seemed to win out, especially after a freak gym accident that stopped me from doing the amount of exercise I needed to counteract my appetite; my most favourite being ‘spin class’ (indoor cycling) such fun.
Recently the Holy Spirit has challenged this reluctance towards obedience and is helping me reframe my understanding of obedience.
I have been learning that Jesus’ call to obedience isn’t meant to be something out of duty, it isn’t meant to be something to prove we belong to him it is about who we are following and where we are following him to.
This takes us back to the time of the Israelites out in the wilderness wandering for 40 years. Why? Because of their disobedience. But what enabled them to keep going why didn’t they just give up and go back to Egypt? 2 things: they were following their Saviour and they were headed to the promised land.
Know the one who you are following and where he is taking you
Whatever we say about Israel, no matter how far they pushed God’s boundaries they never went back to Egypt during those wilderness years. It was God’s continuous mercy that enabled Israel to keep repenting, keep turning back towards God, the one who rescued them from their slavery in Egypt.
Just like little children we need to keep learning how to trust Jesus our Saviour. As we keep getting it wrong and wandering off in the opposite direction we learn from life’s consequences that there is only one we can trust, only one we can depend on and that one is Jesus himself. He alone who is without sin.
Obedience isn’t a list of rules and regulations but is a call to follow Him no matter what. And Jesus’ promise to us?…….’Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.’ Deut 31:6. God declared this to Joshua just before the Israelites were to arrive in the promised land.
Our greatest enemy is the devil who wants to stop us in our relationship with Jesus, who wants to stop us getting to the promised land and do anything to cause us to turn away from Jesus. One of his weapons against us is temptation. All temptation is to stop us from following Jesus and turn back to living life anyway we want to. What would it take for you to reject Jesus?
We do not need to be phased or terrified of sin because Jesus is the one who overcame it. He is the weapon, he is the glory that destroys the darkness. Our focus in regard to obedience isn’t really about what we do but why we do it. Jesus wants us to follow him and learn how to live a life that enables us and others to flourish and grow; the devil, even though his temptations appear attractive, they all lead to darkness and ultimately are for our harm and the harm of others.
All that Jesus does is always for our good and his glory.
To be obedient is to agree with Jesus that He alone knows what is for our good and reject the temptation to go the opposite way.
How do we demolish the strongholds in our lives, those places where we think we have no choice but to do the wrong thing? Be obedient to Jesus. Follow his lead and leave the results to him.
I am learning to stop focusing on overcoming my sin because as I do I end up trying to deal with it on my own, so I am learning instead to turn to Jesus for his help. That every time I sin I repent rather than pretending I haven’t done anything wrong, every time I want to sin I want to choose to turn to Jesus for help. rather than give into sin. I want to spend more time with Jesus, talking to him, reading about him, learning who he is in the bible, celebrating all he is and all he has done and is doing.
The apostle Paul in Romans reminds us that we are more than conquerors. This is a real battle and we shouldn’t do this alone. I have a trusted friend who shares the reality that this battle for our souls is real and will pray against the devil’s schemes on my behalf.
Let us join in prayer for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ remembering that the battle belongs to the Lord, he is the one who has overcome death, has destroyed sin and the devil, he alone brings us out of darkness and into his marvellous light. He alone was the one who was obedient to his Father so that no one would perish but have everlasting life. Let us bask in his glory and his provision.
When we put our faith and trust in Jesus we become children of God, we become family, God is our Father who only wants good for us.
However, all of this is only possible if we repent and believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we can have everlasting life. If this is your place of confusion or temptation to reject Jesus, please keep asking questions, please keep being curious and interested in understanding why Jesus did what he did. Seek out churches who can answer your questions. Never give up until you see his glory.
Lord Jesus teach us how to follow you well, show us the ways in which we think we know best, change our thinking to line up with yours and help us to reject all things that will harm us no matter how attractive they look. Amen
Living His Word 