Obedience

Obedient...
...submissive to the will of another
...implies compliance with the demands or requests of one in authority
...implies a predisposition to submit readily to control or guidance

I had recently read the following quote from an article by Steve Saint regarding his dad, Nate Saint, who was martyred in Ecuador along with Jim Elliott, Pete Flemming, Roger Yoderain, and Ed McCully.

"I have trouble distinguishing what I actually "remember" of him and what I have been told. But I do know that he left me a legacy, and the challenge now is for me to pass it on to my children. Dad strove to find out what life really is. He found identity, purpose, and fulfillment in being obedient to God's call. He tried it, tested it, and committed himself to it. I know that the risk he took, which resulted in his death and consequently his separation from his family, he took not to satisfy his own need for adventure or fame, but in obedience to what he believed was God's directive to him. I suppose he is best known because he died for his faith, but the legacy he left his children was his willingness first to live for his faith."

How many of us live with an obedience that provides us the identity, purpose, and fulfillment we need for life? How many of us would put aside fame and adventure for a life of obedience? How many of us would go share our faith if death was the prerequisite to being obedient in this call on our lives?

In Every Man's Battle my favorite chapter is the one that deals with excellence versus obedience. The premise is that we can strive for excellence or obedience. If we choose excellence, then we fall short of God's standard. If we choose obedience we are choosing the life God intended for each of us.

I believe if you look at the life of Job, you will see a great example of obedience. In Job 1:1, Job is called blameless. In Job 1:8 and again in Job 2:3, God, Himself, calls Job blameless. In the original Hebrew the words used are perfect and upright. I have to believe the only way that the Creator can describe you as perfect and upright is if you are living a life of complete obedience to God. My prayer each morning is that somehow I will live my life in a way that will allow God to call me blameless. I pray that I will be obedient: to share my faith, to pray for those that I have committed to pray for daily, to live my life in a way that leaves no doubt as to who I serve, to have a listening ear to what He wants to tell me today, to spend more time with Him today than I did yesterday. What does obedeince look like to you? More importantly, what does obedience look like to God? Search His Word and find out.

A Simple Song

Throughout my life I have always been able to relate how I'm feeling to different songs I hear on the radio. Back in 7th grade, Chicago was the popular group, especially when it came to parties and dances. If you're like me, you can still sing every word to "You're The Inspiration" or "Hard Habit To Break." Lately, there have been several infomercials on TV - you might have seen them (but I'm guessing your spouse wishes you hadn't). There is one for music from the 70's and another for love songs. Jill will sit patiently with me as I sing along to each song that they play. How I remember these songs I'll never know. They have stuck with me through the years. And yet, somehow I can't remember what I'm supposed to do tomorrow! However, lately, it's not so much the music as the lyrics that impact me. I used to turn the station if the music didn't fit my mood. Now, I'll listen to what the song actually says before I change stations. There are songs that I have listened to for a long time - and now I'm hearing them for the first time (makes you wonder why you ever liked some of them!).

Now.....think of God's Word as the songs of your life. Don't stop reading it because it doesn't suit your tastes. Don't pick up another book because the guitar rifts in the middle of the song don't sound like you think they should. Concentrate as hard on memorizing God's Word as you did trying to figure out the words to "Summer of '69" back in high school. Really listen......as if you are hearing it for the first time.

In our walks, we have found that the neatest part of being in God's Word is how fresh and new it is each time we read it. If you will listen to the lyrics, you will experience the same thing. It's the simple songs from God's Word that are providing us with the patience to wait on His timing to reveal where in Africa we are going. It's the simple songs of God's Word that sustains us when the storms rage around us and the busyness of life is closing in. It's the simple songs of God's Word that keep us on the same page in our marriage and our parenting and makes both such a joy. Pray that we will continue to be in His Word daily - what a difference it makes!

Lessons From A Dog

Yesterday on the way home from the office, I heard a pastor use one of the clearest illustrations I have ever heard of the relationship we should desire with our Lord. He shared how he has a dog that clearly sees his wife as "lord" of its life. For example, he shared how the dog will wait for his wife to feed it before it will eat and how it will wait for his wife to let it out before it goes outside. He was relating the attitude of this dog to what our attitude towards God should be - that everything we do should be done because God guides us towards it, not someone or something else. I'm paraphrasing - he said it much more eloquently, but I was already late for dinner and wasn't completely concentrating.

I took this a step further the more I thought about it. What if our desire was to only do that which He asks us to do? What if instead of going out on our own, we waited on God to open the door for us? What if instead of eating junk food to ease our hunger, we waited on the feast that He is preparing for us? What if I were more like Abby (our dog) who will put up with me but jumps and dances around the house when she hears Jill's car pull in the driveway? What if I were to run towards those things God desires for me, the way Abby bounds off the steps and across the yard to greet her "master?"

I often make fun of Abby and the way she follows Jill. I get frustrated when she barks too much. I get irritated with her because she goes outside and rolls in something and smells for days. I laugh at how skittish she can be about anything that startles her. And yet.....somehow it makes sense that I should desire to be that way in my walk. I should follow God even when people make fun of me. I should "bark" the gospel to warn those who are lost of the danger ahead. I shouldn't worry if people are irritated because I don't "smell" the way they think I should smell. And, yes, I should even be skittish about those things that startle me and understand that those feelings are God's warnings to me.

I never thought I could learn so much from a dog! God always surprises us doesn't He?

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

This seems to be the theme lately - from potty training to finiding out our assignment, we are waiting. While not always easy, God is teaching us through this. I think back to college and am reminded of all the times I waited on pins and needles to see if I was going to pass a test or not. I would leave class and give the appearance that I didn't have a care in the world. However, on the inside I was wondering how another "D" would affect my GPA and how much further it would fall. I would sleep restlessly, tossing and turning, until the next day when I could go and check my grade. While I made my share of C's and D's, I would occassionaly be surprised by an A or B.

What is the point of this you ask? Well, during all the stressing about a grade, what I often failed to realize was that the grade wasn't going to change between the time I turned in my test until I saw it posted on my professor's door. Isn't that the way it is with all these "stressful" things in life as well? If we are living in obedience to God, then He has already laid out the path we must walk. I know that Dade will learn to go in the "big potty" and I know that we will find out our assignment with AIM. Sometimes I wonder how much more I could truly enjoy life if I would realize that God has taken care of the big things and the little things.

As I journey through the Bible this year, God has been reminding me that He is a God who takes care of every detail. Just this morning, I was reading how detailed God was with Moses when describing the clothes that Aaron and his son's would wear and exactly how the sacrifices needed to be handled. Isn't it neat to know that we serve a God of details, who cares about each "little" part of our lives?