Chapter 16
HIS LIFE FOR YOUR OBEDIENCE
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
JOHN 1:4 NIV
150 Obedience
A relationship with God isn’t complicated. You don't have to dig a hole 1000 feet deep with a teaspoon. You don’t have to climb a ladder forty-nine miles into the atmosphere to stay on His good side. You need to know what He has said, believe it, and do it.
Rule #1 of the Christian life is that God’s will takes priority over yours and everyone else’s. Sometimes you’ll hate that rule! It will take a while to adjust to it.
Don’t try to rationalize your way around it. Your situation isn’t special. Rule #1 has no loopholes. You can’t appeal it to a higher authority.
Rule #1 challenges your willful desire to be in charge. To obey God, you must die to your agenda (Luke 9:23). That’s not hard until you want to go shopping, fishing, or whatever, and God wants you to do something else.
God has chosen you and all other believers to obey Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2). Peter describes the righteous as obedient children (1 Peter 1:14). Believing children are obedient children.
True repentance produces obedience. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 NIV “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Whomever you obey defines who your father is. It’s either God or Satan (John 8:31–47).
Everyone is a slave. People are tragically deceived. They think they’re in charge of their lives. Meanwhile, they’re marching in lockstep with millions of others to the beat of Satan’s drums.
You serve either sin or obedience (Romans 6:16). Those who believe in Jesus as Forgiver and Leader show it by their obedience. God connects belief and obedience.
Sometimes in Scripture, you find the word obedience when you’d expect the word belief. Hebrews 5:8–9 (NIV) speak of Jesus: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
John 3:36 (NIV) says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.”
The Greek word translated in the NIV as “rejects” means, one who is not subject to, is stubborn toward, resists, or disobeys the Son. God connects belief and obedience. He also connects unbelief and disobedience.1
How do you show most clearly that you believe in Jesus?
Read 2 Corinthians 1.
1. https://www.christiangrowthresources.com/31-steps-toward-spiritual-maturity
151 Got Connections?
Connections make a gigantic difference. I replaced our stove’s burners and the deteriorating pans underneath them. That improved the stove’s appearance.
The first time I tried to use the burner, it didn’t work. It was room temperature. It looked better than the old burner. But it didn’t function because I didn’t connect it properly.
I got my summer job with the Pennsylvania Fish Commission through connections my father had. That job opened the door for eventual full-time employment with the PFC.
Connections often open employment doors for average students that exceptional students can’t budge. They don’t even know they exist.
Your spiritual health is also about connections. As a teenager, I was to a church pew what an unconnected burner is to a stove.
I looked good. I was usually well-behaved during the hour I was there.
But I wasn’t connected to God’s life. My spiritual passion was room temperature. I had a “This can’t be over too soon!” attitude.
When I was twenty, God used relationships I had to motivate me to reconsider Jesus. I entered the family of the One who created me and died on the cross to remove every barrier keeping me from connecting to Him.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12–13 NIV).
Connection with God has made a gigantic, life-transforming difference!
How does your connection with God affect your thoughts, feelings, and behavior today? Read 2 Corinthians 2.
152 Pine Tree Parable
I saw it. A pine tree was growing out of granite on the shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Against all odds, life found a way. A little seed produced a small tree. The tree was much older than its size suggested.
The living invaded the non-living and prevailed. It remained through wind, hail, rain, snow, sleet, summer’s sizzle, and winter’s deep freeze. It was gloriously tenacious.
That tree emerged from a single pine seed. Likewise, every Christian receives God’s life from the seed of His word. “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23 NIV).
That new life is gloriously tenacious. It provides spiritual resources you can’t even imagine.
Your natural desire is for life to be about you. The seed’s life is about God and His purposes.
Like the granite in which that tree grew, you too often resist the maturity that new life nurtures. Your self-centeredness controls you.
Thoughtless, cutting words tumble from your lips. Misdeeds still haunt you. Relationships are fractured. Hurtful habits and familiar, unproductive routines shackle you.
Be encouraged. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).
God’s life in you is gloriously tenacious. It will prevail!
What area of your life still offers granite resistance to the growth of God’s life in you? How will you change that? Read 2 Corinthians 3.
153 God’s Favorite Perfume
In 2024 people around the world paid the equivalent of 60 billion US dollars to smell good.1 People like me are content merely not to smell bad.
If I smell good, my wife will feel bad! Not everyone enjoys fragrances wafting on the morning breezes.
She is allergic to the scents of perfumes and flowers. She gets unscented everything, including her husband!
God’s favorite fragrance doesn’t come in a bottle. It’s not the sweet aroma of chocolate in Hershey, PA. It’s not the pleasant smell of a prize rose in Hershey Gardens.
It’s sweet-smelling obedience. It willingly, cheerfully makes love-motivated sacrifices for Him and others.
In Numbers 15 you read six times that the people’s sacrifices are an “aroma pleasing to the LORD.” Attitude is critical.
Sacrifices offered grudgingly are more skunk-like than Chanel-like. Animal sacrifices prefigured the once-for-all willing sacrifice His Son was yet to make.
He did it to offer forgiveness and eternal life. To people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Presenting your body as a living sacrifice pleases God. It’s true and proper worship (Romans 12:1).
Cheerful, willing sacrifices for God and others are His favorite perfume. It’s the fragrance of Christ No. 1.
It imitates the sacrifice His Son made to save you from eternal pain. As you sacrifice to follow God’s path, you give Him pleasure.
You experience it yourself. Mysteriously, your sacrifices become to others the pleasing aroma of Christ No. 1 (2 Corinthians 2:14–16). Christ No. 1 smells far better to God than Chanel No. 5!
When did sacrifices you’ve made for God and others bring you joy?
Read 2 Corinthians 4.
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Fragrance market in the U.S. - statistics & facts | Statista
154 God’s Obedience Tests
God’s obedience tests are often like a Comma butterfly. The Comma butterfly in Great Britain hibernates among dead leaves. It’s nearly invisible. It blends into its background.
Obedience tests often blend into the background of your day. Unexceptional moments surround them.
Suddenly, the decisive moment appears out of nowhere. It’s good to be more prepared for them than I was.
I was grocery shopping with two other family members. A young girl was pushing a cart near us.
Somehow, she managed to spill about twenty items from the cart onto the floor. I should’ve immediately helped her and her mother pick them up.
I felt the urge to do it. But I didn’t. An opportunity to love my neighbor as myself slipped away.
God punctuates your life with obedience tests. He left some of the residents of Canaan unconquered “to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD's commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses” (Judges 3:4 NIV). Would they love Him enough to obey Him?
“If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15 NIV). Do you love God and others enough to sacrifice your time, talents, treasures, and energy for their benefit?
Your faith must become visible. Hopefully, the memory of my missed opportunity will spur me during future service opportunities.
And, yes, obedience tests are faith tests too. You often feel inadequate to meet a need. Nevertheless, you must step out depending on God’s resources to be enough (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Heads up! Obedience tests are coming your way!
When did an obedience test last appear unexpectedly? How did you respond? Read 2 Corinthians 5.
155 Is God Just a Facebook Friend?
People have hundreds or even thousands of Facebook friends. Meanwhile, British anthropologist Robin Dunbar says you can maintain only five close friendships.
Most Facebook friendships are superficial. You don’t know what problems rob your friends’ of sleep. You don’t know what dreams inspire them. You aren’t aware of what burdens their hearts.
Facebook relationships are more about impressing than supporting. You show the frontstage of your life but not the backstage. You advertise beauty and success. You hide ugliness and failure.
The Babylonians were threatening to capture and destroy Jerusalem. Zedekiah was the king of Judah. Notice that “Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet” (Jeremiah 37:2 NIV).
The Jews of that day had a superficial relationship with God. King Zedekiah wanted Jeremiah to pray to God.
He wanted God to deliver them from the Babylonians (Jeremiah 37:3). He and the people of the land had no interest in following God’s words and ways.
They had a Facebook relationship with God. They hardly knew Him. They ignored Him until they were in trouble. Does that sound familiar?
Eternal life is about knowing God. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3 NIV).
If you can have only one close friend, let it be God. Don’t imagine you can make Him happy if you attend worship services more or less regularly and make the offering plate a little heavier.
He insists that you seek His Kingdom and righteousness first. (Matthew 6:33). Draw near to Him. Allow Him to clean up your ugliness.
Don’t be too busy to read the Bible. Don’t reserve prayer for emergencies. Tell others what Jesus means to you. Think about Him continually all week.
May your dreams, your use of time and money, your conversations, and your thoughts center on God. He isn’t satisfied being just a Facebook Friend!
Do you see yourself mostly ignoring God until you’re in trouble or need His help? How will you change that? Read 2 Corinthians 6.
156 The Folly Toll
“Why haven’t you taken the garbage can to the curb for pickup?” his father asked. He rebelliously screamed, “Because I don’t feel like it!”
Many people drive in the passing lane on the Folly Turnpike. Eventually, they must pay the toll.
My father’s discipline spared me from the inevitable price people pay who only do what they want to do. Being enthusiastic about doing my chores was optional. Not doing them wasn’t!
I feared my father too much to disobey. Similarly, “fear of the LORD is the foundation of true wisdom” (Psalm 111:10 NIV).
The wise person lives a God-centered life. The Lord knows driving on the narrow road that leads to life (Matthew 7:14) is best for you and others whom your life touches.
In the coronavirus world of 2020, doing what you wanted to do wasn’t wise. Neither was living like the threat was imaginary. That could kill you or your grandfather whom you might infect.
Have you noticed the often-hidden folly toll behind life’s catastrophes? A young person dies in a traffic accident. It’s a tragedy.
When the facts emerge, folly frequently is the culprit—speeding, texting while driving, or driving under the influence.
Folly maximizes the mistakes you make. Wisdom minimizes them. Are you doing what you want to as a way of life or what God wants? The former brings inevitable undesirable consequences. Proverbs 9:13–18 reveal the ultimate toll of living disconnected from God.
The wise live vitally connected to Him. They’re skilled in living for Him. Their good fruit results from persistently doing right when they feel like doing nothing. They feel good when they do good.
On the other hand, those who consistently do what they want to do are only skilled in living for themselves. They feel good when they do bad (verse 17). They don’t know that they’re already deep in the realm of the dead (verse 18).
How would more skill in godly living help you escape the folly toll? How does that motivate you to continue to grow in your relationship with God?
Read 2 Corinthians 7.
157 How Spiritually Mature Are You?
I’ve coached high school athletes for more than twenty years. Most of them were a quart or two down on the maturity dipstick. A few showed Corvette-like intellectual development. But their emotional maturity was horse and buggy.
They learned too much too quickly before they were ready to deal with it emotionally. Some of their parents unintentionally hindered them. They tried to prepare the road of life for them instead of preparing them for the road of life.
What are the marks of maturity? Mature people keep their promises. Neither flattery nor criticism derails them. They’re humble. Their character, not their emotions, is in the driver’s seat.
They understand how much they’ve received. They’re consistently grateful. They put others before themselves. They seek advice and wisdom from others before acting.
The spiritually mature share similar characteristics. As with students, maturity isn’t about how much they know. It’s marked by what they do with what they know.
Their lives produce Jesus-like fruit (Ephesians 4:13). “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature” (Luke 8:14 NIV). The Apostle Paul’s passion was to “present everyone fully mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28 NIV).
So, a Bible content quiz can never measure your spiritual maturity. What matters isn’t how much of the Bible you’ve been through. It’s how much of the Bible has been through you.
Christian education is about transformation, not information. How you behave because of what you know about God is what counts.
I’ve developed a tool to help you see yourself in the spiritual mirror. I’ve also provided specific suggestions to address areas of weakness.
I’m not a “Perfect 3” on this tool. I don’t expect you to be either! I invite you to respond to each of the eighteen statements if you haven’t previously done so. You can find them under Devotional 95, “Are You Noticeably Different?”
What is your weakest area? What is one practical step you can take to strengthen it? Read 2 Corinthians 8.