obedience

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I have decided to follow Jesus

I heard an inspiring story during one of my trips to India. But before I share the story, a little background. Northeast India for many decades had been known as the missionaries’ graveyard. Primarily because nearly every missionary who had moved there and attempted to establish a mission station was faced with unbelievable rejection and failure. The region has been a demonic stronghold for centuries. It was rare that any missionary team would last over one year. It is reported that many got sick and some even died. But most left defeated by an unbelievable hardness of the people’s heart toward the gospel.

Even though the region was considered closed to the gospel, somehow there was one family who became a follower of Jesus. The story is told of a man who lived in a small village in this region of India. We are not sure how he heard the gospel but he was a passionate follower of Jesus. His conversion and commitment to Christ plus his zeal for the gospel had so irritated the villagers that a mob formed. They rushed this man’s house and shoved him and his family to the public square.  The village chief questioned him about his faith and gave him and his family a chance to recant. The man didn’t know what to do. So he began to sing a song that some believe he had composed.

” I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”

With that his children were horrifically killed as he and his wife watched in horror. He was given another chance to recant and save his wife. Again, not knowing what to do, he sang another verse.

“Though none go with me still I will follow, though none go with me still I will follow, though none go with me still I will follow, no turning back, no turning back.”

He watched as they brutally murdered his wife. Then he was given one more chance to recant. He continued to sing.

“The cross before me the world behind me, the cross before me the world behind me, the cross before me the cross behind me, no turning back, no turning back.”

Even though that man and his family were killed that day, something remarkable happened. A seed was planted in the heart of the chief. It was a seed that began to grow over time. Then one day he gathered the villagers in that very same square and renounced his previous faith and he declared his allegiance to Jesus Christ. A celebration began to break out and the gospel spread not only through out that village but through the whole region. It spread because they had seen true faith and had seen the real character of God.

I believe this is one of the events that God used to open up this region of India. In the last couple of decades hundreds of thousands Indians have come to Christ. I have personally witnessed this incredible move of God.

Bottom Line

There are several lessons we can learn from this inspiring story.

1. When you make a decision to follow Jesus you will be called on to “draw a line in the sand”. We may not be called on to give our life in martyrdom like this family but we will be faced with a decision(s) that will set us apart from the world. Will I chose to follow Jesus absolutely or will I compromise just to keep my personal dream alive?

The world is not for us. The scripture tells us that we are ‘strangers and pilgrims’ in this world. In other words, we are not familiar with the territory (way of life), and we are pilgrims, just passing through on the way home (heaven).

2. God can take any tragedy, disappointment and turn it into an incredible victory. The principle of Romans 8:28 (“all things work together for our good”) is that God takes all of the successes, failures, unfairness, sacrifices and tragedies and is able to blend them all together to accomplish His will for your life.

For every tragedy and failure God has already gone ahead of his children to begin a process of turning our greatest hurt and disappointment into an incredible work of God.

3. Make sure you have absolutes in your life. We live in a “relative world” where the culture dictates what is right and wrong. As a committed follower of Jesus our life is dictated by absolutes. The old saying is true, “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” Absolutes encourages us to be firmly planted on the absolute faithfulness of God.

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Greeting Card Mentality

Who doesn’t like to receive a well chosen greeting card to help you celebrate a wonderful occasion, like a birthday or anniversary, or one that helps you get through an especially rough time in your life?

Greeting cards are meaningful among Christians when they contain a verse of Scripture that expresses hope and encouragement. We can all agree that these cards are sweet and kind expressions, and we appreciate every kind thought.

However, could it be that we are sometimes guilty of living a “greeting card” mentality while neglecting the most important aspect of the verses we use in our greeting cards?

For example, we often use a familiar verse in Romans 8:28 as a challenge that we can do anything with Christ’s help. But we ignore the over all context of the passage that admonishes us to pray without ceasing, and to pray being led by the Holy Spirit. It’s not about us achieving a personal goal with God’s help, but about developing an attitude of prayer and following God’s will.

I recently read a “Our Daily Bread” devotional that told the story of a man’s wife who had bought a birthday card for a friend. The card had a scripture from Deuteronomy 28:63 that read, ”The lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply”. She was so fascinated with the beauty of that statement that she wanted to look up the scripture and read the rest of the passage. When she read the whole verse it painted a different picture when read in it’s context. The whole verse read, “Just as the lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy.”

The proper context of the whole passage is not about God’s favor and blessing, but about His judgement because Israel had turned their back on Him. Yes, God takes pleasure in blessing His people, but He also warns us that we are destined for greatness and blessing only when we are serving Him with all of our heart.

Bottom Line

To walk with the Lord means we are intentional and radical about our faith. Being intentional is to have forethought. For me, that means I must have a time each day that I focus on my need for His daily guidance. I acknowledge that “Apart from Christ I can do nothing.” Some would call this daily devotions, I prefer to call it my God focus time. This helps me recognize and acknowledge a daily need for Him.

Being radical is simply being fully surrendered and abandoned to the will of God. It’s a reminder that there is nothing more important than being right with God and walking in daily fellowship with Him.

How would you characterize your walk with God, “Greeting Card mentality” or “Intentional and Radical?”

“As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.” (Galatians 6:14 NLT)

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Misfits

Have you ever thought that you just don’t fit in anywhere? Maybe you were like me and never felt like you belonged or fit in with any group. When I was in high school I was too “churchy” to run with the popular crowd and not smart enough to run with the intellectual crowd.

On top of all of that I was so shy and introverted as an adult that when asked by the Pastor to read the Sunday School report during the morning service I was so nervous I became nauseated. To even consider that I would one day stand behind a pulpit and preach was out of the question. I felt like a misfit.

Even as a conference leader and speaker, I have never had the support or endorsement of the larger churches, and popular pastors. I wasn’t denominational enough to be endorsed and promoted by the denominational leaders, and not radical enough to be drawn to the major independent church groups. I was even a misfit in my calling.

Yes, I am a misfit, yet I have had the wonderful privilege to preach, teach and counsel thousands of people on four continents. How can a misfit be used of the Lord? Somewhere along the way the Lord taught me a valuable lesson. He specializes in using misfits. He taught me that obedience, commitment to surrender, and brokenness is more important than popularity and acceptance.

This has always been God’s way, He uses misfits. The Scripture teaches us in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

“Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.” (NLT)

From a biblical perspective, being a misfit doesn’t mean that we are unwise, reckless, and irresponsible. It means that we clearly understand that our worldview is not determined by the culture that we live in. We recognize that we are strangers and pilgrims in the world. The world system does not determine our belief system, our belief system is based on the absolutes of the Scripture.

Being a misfit also means that God uses those whose life has been filled with past failures. Peter was a prime example of someone who once walked with Jesus, and then later denied that he ever knew Jesus. He even quit the ministry and went back to fishing when Jesus was crucified. But Jesus still redeemed Peter and used him greatly in the kingdom. Weeks later he preached a five minute sermon and thousands came to Christ.

“It shouldn’t surprise us that God handpicks the foolish to confound the wise. Those that were rejected locally often are promoted by God globally for His glory. Being unqualified is greater than a degree from an Ivy League school. Graduate with God today because the Lord doesn’t call the qualified but qualifies the called.” (Frank Shelton, author Carrying Greatness)

Bottom Line

If you are feeling that you just don’t fit, then be encouraged, you are in the best of company. God’s Hall of Fame is populated by unqualified misfits. He specializes in using and promoting those who feel the most unqualified.

When we come to Him and lay ourselves at His feet, acknowledging we have nothing to give or offer but ourselves, we then enter the realm of the qualified. By acknowledging that “apart from Him we can do nothing” we become an “eligible misfit” for Kingdom work. May this be our prayer:

“Dear Lord, I come to you as a misfit, and fully unqualified. I acknowledge that apart from you I can do nothing. I offer myself to you just as I am. Cleanse and change my heart so that I can be a reflection of the Christ who lives within me. Amen”

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The In’s and Outs of Obedience

If you have been a follower of Jesus very long you have heard or read multiple times about the importance of being an obedient believer. If you are like me, the question in my mind has been, “What does it mean to be obedient to the Lord?” In other words, other than obeying the commands of Scripture, what does obedience look like?

There is a lot written on the subject of obedience and the more you read on the subject the more confusing it gets. On one hand you could develop a law mentality and fall into religious legalism. The other extreme is you could become so passive that you never encounter or connect with God’s leading.

So in this devotional I would like to give you my view of what it means to be obedient to God. I am wired to be practical so my bend on obedience is from a practical standpoint. I don’t do well with complicated theological definitions, so my approach is to break it down into a practical but accurate definition.

Legal side of obedience
I view obedience from two perspectives. One is the legal side of obedience. These are God’s clear commands like we read from the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount or the epistles. These are clear-cut instructions given to us by God for us to obey. For instance, it’s never a question if we are to love our neighbor. We understand that lying is something that obedient believers don’t do. The Scripture plainly tells us not to lie or hate our neighbor. We don’t have to pray about if its ok to hate our neighbor or tell a lie because the Scripture is clear.

Practical side of obedience
This side of obedience is what trips up most believers. It’s more subjective and not quiet as clear as the written Word. We see an example of this principle when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked him how to obtain eternal life. Jesus told him, “You know the commandments…”. The rich man replied, “ All these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus replied, “One thing you still lack, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and then you shall have treasure in Heaven, and come and follow me. “

This is an example of a man who had followed only the legal aspect of obedience. He missed the practical and heart side of what it means to be fully committed to God. Jesus wasn’t saying it was wrong to be rich or prosperous. He was teaching that even though the man had kept the letter of the law in his personal behavior, his money and wealth had become a God to him. He wasn’t willing to trade his wealth for peace with God.

One of the indicators that a person is really born again is they are connected to both the legal and the practical side of obedience. It is an inward thing. It’s more than keeping the commandments, it’s being willing to allow your life to be a living sacrifice.

We are sometimes like the little boy who was placed in the corner sitting in a chair for being disobedient. His mom told him to stay seated in the chair and not to get up until he was given permission. He then looked at his mom and said, “I may be sitting down in this chair, but on the inside I am standing up.” He looked like he was being obedient but on the inside he was still rebellious.

Three aspects of practical obedience
There are several aspects of practical obedience but I want to highlight three key components that most believers deal with on a day to day basis.

Obeying the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. When we were born again we received the Holy Spirit within us. This is the promised comforter and teacher that Jesus promised his disciples before he ascended to heaven. (John 16:5-15) It is the spirit of the living Christ living His life through us. This is what Jesus meant when He said that He would always be with them. The Holy Spirit is in us to not only be our teacher but also to reveal to us the will of the Father. It’s that inner conscience. Practical obedience is listening to and obeying the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. I call it intentional listening. As you commune with God through prayer and Bible reading, the voice will be clearer.

Practical obedience involves placing our trust in God during every crisis, situation or decision. This is when we give every situation to God and trust Him to show us direction. During my life, I would like to say that every major decision I’ve made was in line with God’s will. But I am sorry to say that I haven’t always made the right decision. Out of fear or rebellion I chose to do it in my own strength and wisdom rather than trusting God and following His leadership. But in those times when I trusted God to show me the way, He never failed to give me direction and peace in the midst of the storm.

Practical obedience is learning to wait on God. When I think back to the times that I made a bad decision it was because I didn’t have the patience to wait on an answer from God. We have all heard the familiar phrase that God has two answers when we pray, “yes or no”. I have found that there are actually three answers, “yes, no and wait”. I can handle the “yes and no” answers fairly well, it’s the “wait” that I struggle with. Learning to wait on God is a spiritual virtue that results in practical obedience.

Bottom Line

Obedience involves two aspects, following the written commands of God (the Legal) and the practical aspect (a practical living out of the commands). God didn’t give us the commands and then throw us to the wolves, hoping that we can persevere. He gave us the indwelling Christ to enable us to fulfill both the legal as well as the practical aspect of obedience. The Scripture tells us that we are made complete in Christ. (Colossians 2) His life is in us, enabling us to live in obedience. (Romans 8:1-10) It’s not just up to us to do the best we can, but rather it is Christ, who is the fulfillment of the law, living His life through us empowering us to be obedient. As a result, our obedience allows us to fulfill the will of God.

“The quality of our character is directly related to the level of our obedience. “

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Jesus is Enough

The whole purpose of the Christian life is to “glorify God through our life.” That means that in order to bring God the most glory we must be willing to lay our life down, and then allow Him to live and work through us. How does God do that? He does it by applying the process of the cross to our life.

The Cross of Christ has two primary benefits. One is to provide payment for out sin debt. Jesus did what we could not do by standing in our place dying for us. He died for us and as us, to pay our sin debt. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus became our righteousness to render our self-righteousness useless. Because we now have His righteousness, we no longer have to measure up to some man-made religious standard.(1 Corinthians 1:30)

Secondly, the cross is our example of submission and obedience. The cross is symbolic of a death process that must take place in our life so that Christ may have control. (2 Corinthians 4:7-12) Just as the cross in Jesus life allowed Him to complete what he came to do, the cross process in our life does the same thing. We are destined to become salt and light to a seeking world. We can only realize our destiny by submitting to a death process through trials, temptations, and troubles.

Bottom Line

God wants to bring us to the point that Jesus is enough. When things happen that get us out of our comfort zone, its God’s way of stripping our self-sufficiency. He is pushing us toward Him. He wants us to acknowledge that He is all we need. He is our life, our source of strength, our protector and our provider. Our security, our peace, our rest and our joy are found in Him. Jesus is enough.

“ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

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Subtle Dangers

“But Martha was distracted with all her preparations: and she came up to Him and said, “Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?”…the Lord answered…only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part.” (Luke 10:38-42)

In our walk with God, there are always subtle dangers lurking in the shadows attempting to get us off track. More often than not, it’s the little things, that in itself might be good, but in the end rob us of “the main thing.”

We see an example of this in the story of Jesus’ visit to Bethany to have a meal with his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Martha was busily serving the meal while Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet anointing his feet with expensive perfume. Martha approached Jesus and and said, “Master, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me?”

Luke’s account of this event says that “Martha was distracted with all her preparations” (Luke 10). It wasn’t that Martha was doing something wrong, she was performing her job as host by serving the meal to her honored guest. But in doing something good she missed a divine moment. She could have been sitting at Jesus feet with her sister. This opportunity never passed her way again, for in a few days Jesus would suffer the cross.

Jesus told Martha, “only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part.” Jesus was not scolding her for doing her job as hostess, but He was reminding her that doing things for God is not what’s most important. In her busyness to do something good, she missed a historic and divine moment of sitting at Jesus feet and learning of Him.

In this story we learn of a subtle danger facing most of us in our endeavor to walk with God. We let “doing things for God” replace our devotion to Him. God wants our total devotion, surrender and abandonment. He wants us to “risk it all” for Him. He doesn’t want us to hold back anything for ourselves. He wants our time, talents, attention and our resources. All those things were given to us by God in the first place. But He wants us to give it all back to him in surrender. It’s not that God needs anything, it’s us that needs to learn the value of not placing anything or anyone ahead of Christ in our devotion.

Bottom Line

Therefore, the normal Christian life is to be a radical life, one that includes absolute surrender and abandonment. Anything less and we are guilty of drawing on Him to simply satisfy ourselves.

When we gave our hearts to the Lord Jesus, we became a soldier of the cross. Soldiers are enlisted to do battle with the enemy, and our life is no longer our own. We are to be a living sacrifice, willing to pour out ourselves for the sake of the gospel.

So next time that you are compelled to “do something for God”, remember that He desires our devotion more than He wants our service. Thats because true service to God flows out of a life that is fully devoted and surrendered to intimacy with Christ.

Oswald Chambers says it best in his book My Utmost of His Highest,;

“ The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?”

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Light Your World

“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” (Ephesians 5:8-9 NLT)

I have to admit, I am a movie buff. I like all sorts of movies but my preferences fall into two categories, true life stories and, believe it or not, animation. Talking animals just crack me up. I guess that is why I laugh every time I read the story of Balaam’s donkey looking back at Balaam and asking him, “What have I done to you that deserves you beating me three times? (Numbers 22 NLT)

However, there is one thing about animation that cannot be duplicated; it’s the light in the eyes. This last weekend I was watching an animated movie with my granddaughter. I said to her, “Look at the eyes of the animated adults. The animators can reproduce everything just like a live person but the light in the eyes. That can only be given by God.”

But this principle of the “light in the eyes” goes even deeper. God gives every living creature life and it is demonstrated by the light of life that is in their eyes. But He goes even further with His children. He gives us a light that is different from the average creature. “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:7)

The light we now have within us is the light of Christ. It is His life in us that draws others to want to know Him. It’s Christ’s life shown through our eyes that the Holy Spirit uses to draw people to Himself. As the Scripture explains, God could use the rocks to cry out or the trees to sing His glory. But God, in His infinite wisdom, chooses to use us to display “the Light” to the world.

It is the love of Christ in us that is displayed through our life and shown through our eyes that makes us different. It is not our religious performance, Bible knowledge or debate skills that will draw someone to Christ. It is the light of Christ shown through our eyes that will cause someone to get a glimpse of God’s character and nature.

How can we make sure that Christ’s life is shown through our life? The light of Christ will be shown as we love Him with all our heart, our mind and our soul. (Matthew 22:37-39) It is a matter of surrender. As we surrender our rights and expectations, our dreams, and our plans to Him, we are changed into His likeness. It’s often called the great exchange. When we exchange our self-centered life for Christ’s life, a change occurs. The focus of our life is no longer “us”, but our new focus is Christ. We become a reflection of His glory.

That reminds me of the words of a beloved old hymn.

“Oh that will be, glory for me
Glory for me, glory for me.
When by His grace we shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.”

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord, who is the Spirit,makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NLT)