Friday, April 1, 2022
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6
Walking in Obedience and Submission Means Dying to Self
We all want our children and grandchildren to obey, but we want them to obey because they love us. Their human nature makes them disobedient and we have to teach them. They learn but still disobey sometimes. Some learn easier than others. So it goes with us in our relationship with God. He wants us to obey out of love. We struggle daily with our human nature but we are transformed through His presence in our lives. We are focusing on obedience to His call on our lives, not just obedience to His laws, so when we tell Him no or run the other way when He calls us to a specific purpose, that is a struggle with our human nature - most likely fear of what He is asking us to do.
God wants us to be obedient to Him, but He wants more than just obedience. He wants a relationship with us. When we obey for the wrong reasons, we miss out on the joy of submission to God because of our relationship with Him, not just because that is what we are supposed to do. Sometimes we can get caught up in the motions of “doing the right things”, like teaching classes at church, being at church every time the doors are open, volunteering and serving, and going to Bible Study. These are all very good things, that we should do, but it is possible to do them for the wrong reasons.
Sometimes we do these things because they make us look good. Other times we do them because we think it will make us “good enough” for God. The absolute beauty of God’s love is that is is unequivocally unconditional. There is nothing under the sun we can ever do to earn it - in our whole lifetime. We can work, go to Bible Study, serve, teach, volunteer, etc., but none of it will make God love us more and none of it will get us into heaven. It may make us look good to others, but we have to be careful of who we are trying to please - God or men? This may sound confusing. It is good to do all those things, but God wants us to do them out of love for Him. When we have a relationship with Him, we obey becaue we love Him. We are transformed in that relationship and we grow through Bible study, serving, teaching, volunteering and coming to church.
My good friend Eric Adcock showed me something when i told him what i was writing about. The word obedience has the word “die” right in the middle of it.
Obe-DIE-nce
To walk in obedience, we must submit and DIE to self. in 1 Corinthians 15:31 Paul said I affirm, brothers and sisters, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, that I die daily. Even though we are in a relationship with Him, and transformed by that relationship, we still struggle with our human nature. To walk in obedient submission, we also must die daily - or several times a da\y.
Our Heavenly Father loves us so much and He longs for us to want a relationship with Him. He wants to transform us and for us to submit to Him and obey because we love Him.
God is the ultimate transformational leader. He wants relationship that will transform us. And here’s where submission comes in. When you surrender your whole heart to God, no longer will your life be a series of outward transactions of obedience or disobedience. Your life becomes an ongoing process of transformation that leads to an abundant life of freedom in Christ.
Sam Nobles
