Obedience, it’s not a four letter word:)

I think we hear the word obedience as a “four letter word.”

Why? Because we don’t like to be told what to do! And…we have our OWN agenda.

“I want what I want and I want it NOW!” -Veruca Salt

Speaking of not wanting to be told what to do.,..

When my kids were in Jr. High/High School, my husband and I would lay on our bed and call out…”Malcom In The Middle’s on!”  And all 4 kids would pile on the bed and we’d watch and laugh together.

The show was quirky and funny, and completely rebellious…it was EVERYTHING “The Waltons” was NOT:) Though, the heart of the show was all about love and acceptance.

The title song from “Malcom in the Middle” always rang so true for me, and caused me to pause every time I heard it…laughing, with an edge of  embarrassement because the lyrics were all too familiar.

“You’re not the boss of me now and you’re not so big…life is unfair.”

I think this message plays over and over in our heads. It is the same message that tripped up lucifer.

Within the theme of “it’s all about me” so, “your’e not the boss of me” a distorted view of obedience immerges. Oswald Chamber’s helps to put this into perspective. Below is from His devotional “My Utmost For His Highest.”

(Love Oswald…love this title…MY UTMOST… for HIS Highest)

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.                        —John 13:13
Our Lord never insists on having authority over us. He never says, “You will submit to me.” No, He leaves us perfectly free to choose— so free, in fact, that we can spit in His face or we can put Him to death, as others have done; and yet He will never say a word. But once His life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a complete and effective domination, in which I acknowledge that “You are worthy, O Lord…” (Revelation 4:11). It is simply the unworthiness within me that refuses to bow down or to submit to one who is worthy. When I meet someone who is more holy than myself, and I don’t recognize his worthiness, nor obey his instructions for me, it is a sign of my own unworthiness being revealed. God teaches us by using these people who are a little better than we are; not better intellectually, but more holy. And He continues to do so until we willingly submit. Then the whole attitude of our life is one of obedience to Him.

If our Lord insisted on our obedience, He would simply become a taskmaster and cease to have any real authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him. Then He is easily Lord of our life, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The level of my growth in grace is revealed by the way I look at obedience. We should have a much higher view of the word obedience, rescuing it from the mire of the world. Obedience is only possible between people who are equals in their relationship to each other; like the relationship between father and son, not that between master and servant. Jesus showed this relationship by saying, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). The Son was obedient as our Redeemer, because He was the Son, not in order to become God’s Son.

As we develop a closer relationship with our Lord, we begin to understand His character…that He is trustworthy, faithful, just, and loving. That He acts out of love for us…providing what we need as He guides us and grows us to be more like Him.

My Daddy…I want to be just like Him when I grow up:)

When you experience that kind of love and care, it is a natural response to want to please…to be…obedient…it doesn’t “feel” like a four letter word anymore.

Because our Good Father has only Good Gifts for us, He actually BLESSES us in our obedience. We are rewarded for it with everything we desire…love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. His desires, become our desires. We are one. His heart becomes our heart,  AND if we are one, then obedience is not coming from the place of being a “servant” to our Father, but as a true “son.” (Daughter)

Our Father meets us in our obedience & following His “rules” gives us everything we’ve been searching for…what?! That’s not the message the world teaches us, is it?!

Be your own boss, don’t let anyone else tell you what to do, do what you want,..whatever feels good. If you’ve walked that path, you know where it leads…NOWHERE…or even further…it leads us to destruction.

“Let’s rescue obedience from the mire of the world!”

 

 

I love you Malcom, Hal, Lois, Dewey, Reese and Francis, but…

“Jesus is the boss of me NOW,  and He IS SO BIG.”

And when He is the Boss…ALL things work for my good ❤️ It’s a promise from the PROMISE KEEPER.

Trying to rest in that today.

Bless you!