Obedience and Being in God’s Will

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Now, if anyone has caused you pain, he has not caused it to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he shall be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.    2 Corinthians 2:5-9 (ESV

Paul writes to the Corinthian church. He tells them that, if someone brings hurt to them, that person causes injury to all of them.

He continues by telling them that the offender deserves forgiveness and comfort lest he becomes saddened. He pleads with them to reaffirm their faith in the one guilty of wrongdoing. Each of us, when we cause hurt to the LORD, can seek forgiveness and receive comfort from Him. When someone brings hurt to us, we are to extend forgiveness to that person. Sometimes we have to ask God to do it for us. But we must forgive because God will not forgive us if we don’t forgive others.

The Apostle Paul then explains the reason for his writing. He took the time to test the believers and to know if they were obedient in everything. Paul speaks of forgiveness and of obedience in this passage. We are to forgive the sinner because of God’s love for us and for them. Paul tells us Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 –(NIV)

Our motive for extending forgiveness to someone who has sinned is that we want to be in God’s will and obey Him. I wonder, have I ever not been completely obedient to God? Due to being human, I probably have not always obeyed Him.

Waiting is a Part of Obedience

 

             Wait on the LORD; be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD (KJV) Psalm 27:14

             Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD. 

                Psalm 27:14(ESV)

WAIT FOR THE LORD;

David advises us to wait for God to guide us. Sometimes we run ahead of Him.

BE OF GOOD COURAGE

               Don’t be afraid. We are not to bury our heads in the sand. 

               Instead, we are to look the issue straight on, no matter how much it may hurt.

HE SHALL STRENGTHEN THINE HEART:

God will give us what we need in our inner being. He will help us withstand whatever we face.

WAIT ON THE LORD.

            Sometimes, we humans get in too much of a hurry, mess things up, making matters worse.

            These are the words of David. As humans, we don’t like to wait. However, we must wait. In our society, we have become impatient as we wait for the microwave oven to end its cycle, stop lights to change to green, the weather to break, and healing. We even have to wait for the hot water to become warm. All these things we have to wait for. There is a great lesson here.

Complete Obedience

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10:5-6(ESV)

Paul wrote these words to the believers at Corinth. Paul had concerns about the Corinthian Christians. “False teachers were a constant threat to the gospel and the early church.” ^(1.)

He had to repeatedly warn and correct the thinking of these new believers. 

“The church at Corinth was weak. Surrounded by idolatry and immorality, they struggled with their Christian faith and lifestyle.” ^(2.)

I see a parallel between the Corinthian church and the Christian church of our day. Paul ministered to a weak church while the modern Christian churches seem weakened.

By weakened, I mean the church may have fallen under the influence of the world. We have churches in other parts of the world who face persecution and continue to grow in strength and in number. However, we have churches in my nation that struggle because they have allowed the ways of the world to penetrate into their way of thinking.

Paul tells the Corinthian believers to take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

The Message Bible states this passage like this: We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. ^(3.)

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are directed to filter whatever we see, hear, or think through God’s word in our obedience to Him.

In my devotional reading, I found that when learn and practice obedience, we are in the experience of sanctification.     

1.      Life Application Bible, (NIV) Tyndale House Publishers Wheaton, Ill. And Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. © 1988-1991 p.2091

2.      2. IBID

3.      The Message, Navpress © 1993-1996, 2000-2002 p.1596

Walk in God’s Command

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And now I ask you, dear lady-not as though I were writing you a new commandment but the one we had from the beginning-that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so you should walk in it. 2 John 5-6 (ESV)

The Apostle John penned these words to “the elect lady and her children”. He emphasizes the importance of the commandment that we love one another. He stresses our need to live it out before others.

The Life Application Bible gives a good explanation of John’s message. “The statement that Christians should love one another is a recurrent New Testament theme. Yet love for one’s neighbor is an old command, first appearing in the first book of Moses (Leviticus 19:18) We can show love in many ways by avoiding prejudice and discrimination, by accepting people, by listening, helping, giving, serving and refusing to judge. Knowing God’s command is not enough. We must put it into practice, walking in obedience to his commands.” ^(1.) (Emphasis is mine.)

In my prayer group, we recently had a discussion about displaying God’s love to others, especially those who struggle with difficulties that stem from traumatic events in their lives. We thought on loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

We realized that when we love our neighbors, our Christian brothers and sisters, and even our family members, we are not to judge them. Loving them involves serving them, giving them an ear when they need to talk, and hugging them when they need reassurance.

John reminds us that we should truly love one another, obey God’s commands, and walk the Christian walk with Him beside us.

( (1.) Life Application Bible, New International Version © 1973, 1978, 1991 Tyndale House Publishers Inc. Page 2286 (Notes) 

We Will Be Made Righteous

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For as by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience, the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19 (ESV)

All Christian believers know the story of Adam and Eve. God created them perfect to oversee His beautiful Garden of Eden. God gave then permission to partake of the fruit of all the trees in that garden, save one.

This garden had trees that bore fruit throughout the year. They had enough to sustain them. However, a serpent also lived in the garden. This serpent beguiled Eve into taking a bite out of the fruit of the forbidden tree. She chose to share the fruit with Adam.

When God came looking for them at evening, they hid because they realized they were naked. When God asked where they were, Adam told Him, “We hid from You because we were naked.”

When God heard this, He knew what Adam and Eve had done. They sinned against God. They disobeyed Him. He banished them from the garden. They had to work hard for whatever they needed or wanted.

God entered the world as a baby. Jesus came to teach the people about God and His ways. Jesus told His Disciples that He would be killed. They didn’t know what to think. He promised them a helper, the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus came to Jerusalem that last time. He yielded to God’s will as he prayed in Gethsemane. When He hung on the cross, He took the sins of the world into his body. In doing this, Jesus Christ allowed the people, then and now, to become righteous. That righteousness extends to you and me.

How can we convey the message that because of Jesus’ obedience at Calvary we are deemed righteous in God’s eyes?

Learning Obedience

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Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Hebrews 5:8 (ESV)

Jesus suffered on the cross for you and for me. He endured agony the degree of which we will never have to undergo.

At any time prior to Gethsemane, he could have turned away and not have done as God had planned. However, in the garden, He prayed three times, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus chose to obey His Father, went through a trial that was based on false accusations. Because of His obedience to God, you and I have hope that one day The Father will take us to heaven to be with Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus learned obedience by praying and listening to God, His Father. How do we learn obedience in today’s world?

Jesus modeled obedience before the people by giving up His will for God’s plan. He let God’s plan work out. How can we, as Christians, convey our obedience to God to those around us? 

The Choice We Have

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16 (ESV)

The Apostle Paul pens these words to the believers at Rome. What he says to them, he also says to us.

We have a choice as to how we align our lives. We can choose to be obedient to our sinful nature and have a life of constant upheaval or we can decide to follow God and gain righteousness.

God gives us free will to decide what we want to do. When we choose to live our lives without Him, we open ourselves up to many difficulties-health issues, relationship problems, and financial concerns.

We can live for the world or we can live for the LORD. While living for the LORD may not always seem easy, if we obey God and His word, He works out those difficult circumstances as He intends.

Sometimes, we have to abide what He tells us and seek new ways to serve Him. As age and infirmity can change our activities and our work for Him. He leads us down different paths that He chooses for us.

As I initially typed these words, the hymn, “Trust and Obey” came into my mind.  These words are especially comforting:

“When we do his good will, he abides with us still. And with all who trust and obey.”

Lord Jesus: Thank You for Your guidance. Thank You for abiding with us. Help us. Your children to always be obedient and to follow your direction as we live for You.
____________________________
Trust and Obey, James H. Samiss, Daniel B. Towner found in Hymns for the Family of God number 454.