God’s Love Language — Obedience

I’ve been reading and studying about our union with Christ this month. Somewhere, in that process I came across the idea that obedience is God’s love language. If you don’t know what a “love language” is, the idea originated in a book for couples written by Gary Chapman. According to Mr. Chapman, we all have a preference for a particular method of having love expressed to us by our spouse. It could be words, or acts of service, or gifts …. you get the idea. A relationship works best when we know and use the “love language” that our spouse enjoys most.

Well, in God’s case, that language is obedience. The Bible makes it pretty clear. Jesus tells his disciples:

““Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.  Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” John 14:23-24

Jesus Himself is our model for obedience. In the garden of Gethsemane, before His arrest, He prays to be spared, but also for God’s will to be done. In the end,

“... he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:8

If we are people “in Christ” we will also be obedient by submitting to God’s will. In Andrew Murray’s devotional, Like Christ, he says:

“… if it ever appears too hard to live only for God’s will, let us remember wherein Christ found His strength: it was because it was the Father’s will that the Son rejoiced to do it…. Our union to Jesus, our calling to live like Him, constantly point us to His Sonship as the secret of His life and strength.”

Remember that you are God’s beloved son, or daughter. It will make obeying His will a joy.

For more about obedience see:

Walking in Obedience

A Model of Obedience

Obedience?

Elisabeth Elliot on Surrender

“Do the ways of God seem strange to some who are honestly seeking only to be good and faithful servants?  There are strong winds, silent years of stress, deaths to be died.  The One we serve has not left us without inside information as to the why.  All who would bring their souls to God must do so with surrender and sacrifice.  This is what loving God means, a continual offering, a pure readiness to give oneself away, a happy obedience.  There is no question, ‘But what about me?’  for all the motivation is love.  All interests, all impulses, all energies are to be subjugated to that supreme passion.”

Elisabeth Elliot

For more about Elisabeth Elliot see:

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn–Book Review

Empowered by Catherine Parks–Book Review

Master of Your Own Destiny?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll Go?

In church this past Sunday, the choir sang this hymn:

It made me wonder how many of us are really willing to go and do and be whatever Christ wants.  I fear I’m too often more like the anonymous writer of the poem below.  I’m all too inclined to offer God what feels comfortable and convenient.  Which kind of Christian are you?

Think It Over

by Anonymous

I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord;
Real service is what I desire;
I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord—
But don’t ask me to sing in the choir.I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord;
I like to see things come to pass;
But don’t ask me to teach girls and boys, dear Lord—
I’d rather just stay in my class.I’ll do what You want me to do, dear Lord;
I yearn for the Kingdom to thrive;
I’ll give You my nickels and dimes, dear Lord—
But please don’t ask me to tithe.I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord;
I’ll say what You want me to say;
I’m busy just now with myself, dear Lord—
I’ll help You some other day. 

Sin Boldly?

I found this quote by Jean Nicolas Grou in my devotional reading.  Grou was a Roman Catholic mystic and writer.  Do you think this is what Martin Luther meant when he said, “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and trust in Christ even more boldly”?  We should never hold back from doing good

“If God requires anything of us, we have no right to draw back under the pretext that we are liable to commit some fault in obeying.  It is better to obey imperfectly than not at all.  Perhaps you ought to rebuke some one dependent on you, but you are silent for fear of giving way to vehemence;–or you avoid the society of certain persons, because they make you cross and impatient.  How are you to attain self-control, if you shun all occasions or practicing it?  Is not such self-choosing a greater fault than those into which you fear to fall?  Aim at a steady mind to do right, go ahead wherever duty calls you, and believe firmly that God will forgive the faults that take our weakness by surprise in spite of our sincere desire to please Him.

For other posts on the topic of duty follow these links:

What is My Duty?

Old Tale– New Take

 

Obey Your Leaders

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.  Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” Hebrews 13:17

Many of you know that Hebrews is my favorite book of the Bible, and so I couldn’t let the month go by without seeing what the author had to say about obedience.  These verses come from the last chapter which is titled (at least in the NIV) “concluding exhortations.”  It contains a list of instructions to the church.  I encourage you to read this entire chapter, as it gives a wealth of good advice, boiled down to succinct statements about how Christians should behave as part of the body of Christ.

Anyway, back to our leaders.  As the wife of a Pastor, I can tell you it is not an easy job.  In fact, it’s not a job at all –it’s a calling.  Most of the pastors I know would not say they chose to be a pastor because it matched their talents, gave them a steady salary or earned them respect and recognition.  They are pastors because it’s what God wants them to do and they can’t refuse to do it without great pain.

My husband is fond of saying that the pastor is not the CEO of the church.  He is not our “boss.”  God did not give him to us as a manager, or administrator, but as a teacher, mentor and leader.  Submitting to our pastor and other church leaders, like submitting to our spouse, should not be what we have to do, it should be what we want to do.

Submitting to someone you are in a loving relationship with does not mean you can never express your opinions or disagree.  It does not mean you cannot ask questions.  It does not mean you can’t try to change their way of looking at things.  I does mean you recognize that person has your best interests at heart, and you should listen respectfully and thoughtfully to what they tell you.  If that person is an authority, you should obey them.

My husband (and other pastors) are not happy to have members blindly accept whatever he says.  He is also not happy when members simply walk away and abandon the congregation because they don’t like something he said or did.  He is happy when a member listens, and if he or she disagrees, studies the subject and asks questions.  He is happy when someone who is upset with him comes to him and talks the issue over.  These kinds of responses lead to spiritual growth and maturity, and trust me, this is what your pastor wants to see in you and in others!

So make your pastor joyful in his task.  Learn from him.  Love him.  Pray for him.  Obey him, because God has given to you.

Using our Talents

In my home, over an inner doorway is a plaque.  It’s very plain, not very tall but somewhat long and on that plaque it says:

To Whom Much Is Given Much Is Expected

I’ve had this for several years now and it’s to remind me to be faithful with the talents and gifts that God has given me.

The saying is what I call an “off-quote” (since it’s not exact) of Matthew 25:14-28 more commonly referred to as the Parable of the Talents.  Instead of copying it all here, I’ll give you a synopsis.  A wealthy gentleman was leaving the area and he entrusted three servants with differing amounts of gold, or as the coin was called back in the day, talents.  One received five talents, the second received two talents, and the last servant received one talent.  It doesn’t seem like the servants were given special instructions about what to do with the money they were given, but the first and second servant put the money to work and increased the amounts.  The third didn’t do anything.  When the Master returned he called each servant to account for what they did.  The first two servants had doubled the money and the wealthy Master says to both of them:

‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

The third servant was fearful.  He was afraid to lose the Master’s money so he had hidden it (kept it to himself) so he wouldn’t lose it.  I’m afraid the Master was pretty rough with him:

‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

This parable is tucked between two other parables.  The chapter starts with the parable of the Ten Virgins and ends with the parable of the Sheep and the Goats.  All of it is an explanation of the Kingdom of God.  It starts with how we need to be ready for the Bridegroom and then moves to what we are to be doing while we wait and the last chapter deals with what happens to the persons that don’t obey the warnings.

I believe this section describes what we are to be doing:

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

These are our “talents”.  This is what we are to do.  We need to take what we are given from the Lord and increase it by giving it away to others.

So, I’m ending this blog with a confession.  Do I do this?  No, not the way I think the Lord would have me do.  I have a long way to go but I’m learning to listen to the Master’s voice.  I’m learning to hear it, so when he tells me to use my “talents” I can hear him.  This blog is an example.  I’ve been thinking about this topic ever since the first of the month and the topic of Obedience.  I need to be obedient and write what is on my heart.  That is something He has called me to do.  I am a reluctant writer.  This does not come easy to me, but I feel that anything the Lord calls you to do, isn’t going to be instantly easy.

I know that if I obey and keep doing what the Lord has directed me to do He will increase it.  I’m going to wrap this up with one more quote, this one from Luke 16:10:

 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.