| Believing Obeyers |
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I was reading over some of my older blogs and found a comment that I just had to repost, it was from Rob on a subject of Promises of the Lord
He wrote the following that really is anointed:
Certainly, obedience is a noble goal but how best to accomplish that goal?
Obedience for obedience' sake is kind of brainless and stupid. Rote obedience is what I was taught in the Catholic Church as well as the Church of Christ. These denominations are certainly not bastions of holiness. In fact, the religious lifestyle imposed by these cults often result in burn-out at best and full blown psychosis at worst. I was one of the fortunate few who was burnt-out by the religion of obedience. I had to flee to the world to find peace and comfort. But that didn't last either.
The world offers no permanent peace. With its emphasis on rote obedience, religion offers no permanent peace either. Both of them claim, "Peace and safety" but it's just another lie.
I didn't find real long-term peace until I discovered the righteousness of God. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Obedience to God is a great thing and it does bring us peace but setting out with the objective of obtaining peace through obedience is very similar to using God to get something else (cars, houses, wives, etc.). Obtaining the blessings of God through rote obedience is little more than "running a game" on God. By the same token, avoiding the curses through rote obedience is just as much a game.
So just as obedience for obedience' sake is futility, so also is obedience to obtain blessings or avoiding curses. What shall we say then? Should we disobey because these forms of obedience are futile? God forbid.
There is a third choice. What if obedience was only a symptom of something deeper? What if disobedience was simply a symptom of something deeper? If we discover what that "something deeper" is, we have the third alternative.
Why do people obey? Some obey because they are afraid of the curses. The "fear based" obeyers have all the outward appearance of godliness yet they miss out on experiencing the perfect love which casteth out fear". Because of their fear, they cannot love the Lord their God with all their hearts. Fear and love are incompatible.
Some people obey because because they want to receive the blessings. The "blessings based" obeyers are as shallow as the fear based obeyers. They maintain the form of godliness in order to obtain what they believe to be the things of value. The "blessings based" believers are actually worse than the "fear based" believers because of their idolatrous greed.
Some people obey because they actually believe what God says. They have the fear of the Lord in them but they're not scared of God. They receive the blessings of God with joy but that's not their motivation. The "believing obeyers" are what God is looking for. These are folks who are not running a game on God. They don't start out with the objective of obeying they start out with the objective of relationship. Obedience is a natural result (fruit) of this relationship.
Other fruits also begin to manifest as well. Genuine courage comes from the abiding hope within the "believing obeyer". Courage is lacking from both the fear-based and the blessings-based obeyer.
You can obey and not truly believe but you cannot believe without obeying.
Or so it seems to me,
Rob |
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