obedience for the children of God

August 12, 2011

Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" (Mark 9:7)

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." (Acts 5:32)

The above three verses show what logically follows: We are commanded to listen to and obey Christ; the Holy Spirit has been sent to us to teach us and remind us of our call to obey Christ; the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey.

I know I downplay this in my own life. I know we're to obey God's commandments, but so often I wrongly see God's commandments as just merely "don't steal", "don't lie", "read the Bible", "pray", etc. The most difficult aspect of obedience is in the fullness of obedience. I might easily be able to follow the above mentioned commands, but can I submit and obey the Holy Spirit within me in everything? Am I willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and sometimes choose to give up a certain activity because it is not of the Spirit? The Holy Spirit within us will nudge us, but if we ignore it, well then our flesh wins. But if we obey, if we listen to the Spirit, our flesh will die, our Spirit will grow, our inner life will grow, and Christ will be king of our lives, and not ourselves.

So often I don't submit myself in every aspect to God. A few examples. On the subject of sleeping, this is such a hard one for me. Frankly when it gets to 11pm, 12am, I just don't feel like sleeping, it's difficult to get myself to shut off the computer, pray and go to bed at say 10PM. Now you may ask, "what does sleeping early have anything to do with obeying God, Christine?" Well, I believe we are to bring all things before God our King and ask Him: "is this Your will?", "does this glorify You?" So I need to ask myself, "Does my sleeping late glorify God?" I still haven't found an excuse to justify sleeping late. Sleeping late usually results in my wasting time on the internet, looking at Facebook at other people's gossips, looking at entertainment news, ruining my health, and then affecting my next day because I get up late and half the day is gone. When I sleep late, I wake up late, and from reading the Bible, we see that there is a certain privilege and honor in meeting God early in the morning. Abraham did it, the disciples did it, Jesus did it and well I'm definitely missing out on that honor and special-ness God has reserved for that 'early in the morning' time with Him. There's just something special about starting your day early with God and God alone - when everyone else is sleeping and it's just you and Him.

Yet the most difficult isn't realizing that I need to stop sleeping late, but to simply do it. It's a struggle against the flesh. When the time comes to sleep, I come up with a million excuses not to: "oh, just 10 more minutes", and the Spirit nudges me. The thing is, if I can't even obey on this SIMPLE matter, how could I obey on the greater matters? If I cannot kill the flesh, submit to the Spirit, dethrone my flesh, and put Christ as the rightful king of my body in a simple matter like sleeping early, how would I be able to do all that when it comes time to say no to wickedness at the risk of persecution? Let us not fool ourselves into thinking the latter is easier than the former. If you can't lift 5 pounds, you will definitely not be able to lift 25 pounds.

Another example. The reason for this blog was because of a sermon I just finished listening to. It greatly convicted and grieved me because I see how in my life obedience to Christ my king has not become so natural and instinctive to me as it is instinctive for my eyes to blink. What's more, I think this is a huge issue in many a Christian life. We don't have the abundance of life Christ promises to us simply because we refuse to submit to the Spirit in all things. We like to keep our worldly pleasures. When I was thinking about this blog topic, God brought to mind another simple and seemingly small activity I've enjoyed this summer - an Asian drama. I'll be honest, there have been plenty of times when my parents have reminded me that to grow sensitive to the Spirit, we must throw out anything that can hinder, hinting at this activity they knew about. Asian dramas are definitely not of the Holy Spirit, and they definitely do not help me to be obedient to the Spirit ( I won't get into the 'whys', but just think about it - could you imagine Jesus getting absorbed into an Asian drama or TV show? why not?). But all throughout summer I've reasoned with myself that I'm just watching one, and plus it's a short one! But the sermon I listened to has greatly convicted me. There is one episode left, the finale...and finales are always great! But I've decided (not without a small inward struggle of course) to not watch it, not because it makes me anymore holier or godlier, but because I want to right now grow that discipline of being obedient to the Spirit in every single matter, no matter big or small, no matter if there is morality involved or not, no matter if outwardly it seems to matter to my spirituality or not.

Our physical eyes are blind to the spiritual warfare going on around us, but the Spirit in us is not. Now, luckily for others, they probably do not have such silly struggles as I do in not watching an Asian drama or in not sleeping late. But if we're careful and serious, I'm sure we all can think of many areas in our lives where we are not obedient to Christ. More often than not, it is in areas that really seems like it's no big deal. But what I want to challenge us all in, and what I want to become disciplined in is in keeping my ears and heart tuned to the Spirit, praying and asking God in regards to everything whether or not He would allow it in my life. This movie, that hangout, this seemingly harmless joke, that activity, this TV show, etc. More often than not, we don't need to worry about BIG sins (like becoming a murderer) draw us away from Christ. The devil is a lot more cunning than we realize. It is in the seemingly small things, the things we allow ourselves to indulge in because 'there's not really a wrong or right' that desensitizes us to the Spirit's leading within us. It is in the many TV shows we allow ourselves to indulge in, the many hangouts we go on, the indulging in our appetites, etc., it is in all these little things that we allow our flesh to indulge in that increases the flesh's pull on us, and makes us insensitive to the Spirit's leading.

What do we do with all the extra time we get? Well let's enjoy the very real presence of Christ in our lives. He is not just king, Lord, and Savior, but he is PRESENT in you and me, and once we've truly experienced that reality, well everything else the world has to offer us will become tasteless and dull - completely opposite of how it may be to us now : the world so enticing and attractive, and spiritual activity like simply sitting before God enjoying His presence so dull and boring like.

5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man^e is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind^f is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God....but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8)