Love = Obedience = Sacrifice

A couple months ago I had a conversation with a friend about what was more important, obedience or sacrifice. The point I was making was obedience to God’s voice leads to the surrender (sacrifice) and giving away of one’s self. It’s our sacrifice which reveals our obedience. He said obedience to God’s voice is far more important than our sacrifice, to which I 100% agree. Without obedience, there is no sacrifice that glorifies God. When I look back at the story of Jesus in the garden and recount His prayer before His crucifixion. Although He struggled and agonized in prayer over God’s plan for salvation, He ultimately submitted Himself and said “not My will, but Yours be done”. Then He obediently followed God's plan and willingly sacrificed all of Himself. His obedience HAD to result in sacrifice. I think we were essentially arguing different sides of the same coin. Regardless, that conversation has been stuck in my head (and the text history in my phone) for a couple months now.

Fast forward to my quiet time this morning and I read: But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

That’s all it took to spur a recounting of the above conversation and solidify how obedience and sacrifice fit together. Obedience is no doubt the measure of our maturity in Christ. You want to measure your "spiritual maturity"? Here's one question you can ask (this is not THE only measure): Do I obey God when He directs me? Obedience is no doubt how we measure our success in Christ. My church (Element Church in Cheyenne, WY) recently re-worded our core values. Our first core values reads: Obedience IS our success! - Our success will not be determined by outcome but by obedience to God. Obedience is the measure. Obedience is what matters to God.

Sacrifice should be a result of our obedience. That is not to say that people sacrifice things and think they are doing it to the glory of God. Sometimes we have our own preconceived notions as to what glorifies Him and we go to great lengths to do those things, regardless of whether they are disobedient to God (i.e. the case of Saul above). Those things are often our way of bolstering our ego making them the result of pride and intended to bring us recognition. This is far from obedience.

Jesus said, "If you love Me obey my commands." (John 14:15). Obedience is the result and evidence of our love. We obey because we love. Sometimes God will ask us to sacrifice something. Every time God will ask us to surrender ourselves and submit to Him. Our only response is obedience. In that regard, our sacrifice, our surrender, our submission should only be a result of our being obedient to God. Anything surrendered outside of obedience is chaff and doesn't matter because it doesn't glorify God.

Here's how it goes: Love = Obedience = Sacrifice.

Any other order doesn't add up the same.

Striving for obedience,
Bruce

You Don't Have to Like It, You Just Have to Do It

Does God ever ask us to do things we really don't want to do? I don't know about you, but it seems like there are a lot of times that God tells me to do stuff, that without Him telling me, I would probably never do. So I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that God WILL ask us to do stuff we don't want to do. Maybe a better question is, Do we have to like everything God tells us to do? I was talking with a friend the other day about this (I'd give him a blog mention, but he still blogs on myspace. I thought they actually shut down myspace or that it got hacked and turned into a recipe sharing site, but he insists it is still functional as a social networking site.) Anyway, while talking about this, he mentioned God commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

If you're not familiar, God promised Abraham, when he was 99 years old, that he would be the father of many nations and that his descendants would number that of the stars in the sky. At this point in his life, Abraham had no sons. But God fulfilled that promise through Abraham's son, Isaac. Isaac was the hope and beginning of the entire Israelite nation. Many years later God commanded Abraham to take Isaac and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Now, God did not actually want Abraham to sacrifice his son, it was a test of faith, but Abraham did not know this. Abraham had faith that God would take care of the situation and that God knew what He was doing. If Isaac was God's fulfillment of the promise to make Abraham the father of many nations, surely He would take care of this. But...imagine just for a second what Abraham must have been thinking. Not only was Isaac the way that God would fulfill His promise, but he was Abraham's son. It was his son, his only son and he loved him. In Genesis 22:2 God even acknowledges Abraham's love for Isaac by saying, “"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love...”

Imagine the pain and frustration that Abraham must have been experiencing as he traveled, with Isaac, to the place of the offering, as he led Isaac up the mountain, as he bound his son (whom he loved) and placed him on the alter and finally as he raised the knife to offer his son to the Lord. I can barely comprehend the excruciating agony in all those tasks. How much anger, sadness, hurt, confusion did he carry? I' sure that he did not like or agree with what God had commanded him to do. Regardless of how he felt, Abraham did it. He was obedient to God. Now, he didn't actually sacrifice his son, but he went as God commanded. The Bible doesn't record whether he struggled with what God commanded of him, it simply says, “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” (Gen 22:3) There is nothing written between God's commandment in verse 2 and Abraham's action in verse 3. Abraham just simply obeyed God, whether he liked it or understood it or not.

I don't think God expects us to be excited about everything He requires of us, but He does expect us to be fully obedient to everything He commands. Will we fall short? Of course we will, but we should desire to get to a point that when we hear the promptings and direction of the Holy Spirit, we obey them. Obedience is how we express our love to God. Being obedient in the things we desire is easy, real obedience is found in the things we don't understand or like. That is where God grows us and accomplishes God size stuff.

A Year in Review

Today marks one year since the day that my entire world changed. One year ago, on September 10, 2008 I discovered some horrible stuff that resulted in my wife subsequently leaving my boys and I. If you know me then you know the story and I've shared my testimony, which include some of the details, on here in a two part blog (HERE & HERE).

So where am I now. To my surprise, I am doing really well. I had assumed that healing would be a LONG and dreadful process. At times it was very difficult, but God has done some amazing stuff in my heart, as well as my life. I am still married, but only because we are waiting for the court date later this month. The point of this post is not to pity party the past. I figured I'd share some of the stuff that God has revealed and taught me this past year. This list is not all inclusive, God has taught me some stuff that is just for me and will stay that way until God says so. So here it is:

1. Obedience is the axis on which everything in God spins. God requires our obedience in every part of our religion and relationship with Him. The ultimate expression of love (and spiritual maturity) is hearing God's word and obeying it. In John 14:15, Jesus says, "If you love me, obey my commandments." Pretty clear, right?

2. If you spend intentional, right intentioned and consistent time with God (everyday) He will direct your steps. If you actually dedicate time to God and talk to Him, get a load of this, He'll talk to you too. This conversation can only be realized through the real, committed, and spirit lead actions of prayer and study/meditation of His word (i.e. reading your Bible). When you actually start spending time and talk with Him, he will offer direction and guidance immediately. Truth and revelation come quicker also. That's one of the bonuses. Not with everything, but I've found I've had to wait far less lengths of time for God to reveal why something has happened and what I should have learned from it.

3. God still disciplines His people, even today. Proverbs 3:11-12 says, " My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights." Not only does God still discipline, when you actively seek Him and are disobedient to His direction, He is quicker to issue that discipline. He is no longer satisfied with waiting for your obedience and allowing you to figure it out on your own. He loves you enough to offer that discipline immediately when needed, to get you back on the correct path. That's the flip side to the revelation and truth thing. He'll tell you what you needed to learn, but He's still gonna swat you.

4. Not everything that happens is part of God's plan. Bad stuff sometimes just happens. God is sovereign over everything, but He doesn't will EVERYTHING to happen. He does allow everything to happen, but the bad stuff is the result of a sinful world. Sometimes God will allow you to reap the consequences of YOUR actions, as a means to draw you back to Him. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope"

5. Some of the greatest learning takes place in the deepest valleys. At least for me it did. I really feel like God revealed the most when I was in those valleys. At the time they sucked - a lot - but I wouldn't trade them and what God revealed, for anything. Psalm 119:71 says, " It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn your decrees." God taught me a lot while I was broken. I'm still there from time to time (currently I'm in the middle of a valley - but I can appreciate it), and I find myself often looking for what God is trying to show me instead of sitting in self misery and pity.

6. I think the most important thing I learned is this: I love Jesus. Sounds simple, I know. But until I went through that crap a year ago, I only thought I knew my Savior. I knew about Him, but I had NO idea who He was. I am still far from knowing who He is. But I know two things, I love Him and He loves me. He reveals a little more of Him everyday that I'm willing to seek Him. He wants to show us all His glory, we just need to be willing to seek it and receive it. When I got a hold of the idea that relationship is so much different than religion, I was amazed. I wanted to understand it, to unpack it and look at it. But you can't, you have to spend time with Him. That is the only way you can build a relationship, time and talking. When I finally understood that and did it, oh my word how things changed.

Things are different now. God has done some amazing things in my life. I am completely a different person and can't wait to see what God has next. I know there was probably other stuff I wanted to add to this list tonight, but being that it's late and I could probably sit up all night and type, I'm gonna call this good for now. It captures the most important things, for the moment anyway.

Excited for the next year,
Bruce

Live Alive!

While I was visiting my parents I had the opportunity to attend service at their church (Prairie Avenue Christian Center) on July 5th. Their head pastor was away on business, so that gave his son an opportunity to preach.

The topic of the morning dealt with living Holy. He said we are dead to our sinful nature and alive in Christ. People that are alive do stuff. God expects us to take an active part in our sanctification. It goes back to the spirit following the flesh. The state of our heart is not automatically good because we believe in God. We do not do good because we are good. Through our faith in Christ, we have a desire to be holy and do what is good and right, that is what causes us to take action and following His example. Through that, our heart is turned toward holiness. Dave (the pastor's son) went on to say, "God commands us to BE holy, not become holy." God has already done the work for us. He has already given us what we need to BE holy." It isn't enough to say, "I am going to be holy." You actually have to BE holy and that takes action. Dave gave a list of 10 things that should cause us to want to be active in our faith, so that we can BE holy before God. I'm not going to go though all of them (you can get the podcast at the above link if interested), but here are the few that really stuck out to me:

1. Our desire to please God (1 John 5:3-5)

I've blogged on this before: obedience. The best way that we can show God love is through obedience. This is pleasing to God. Obedience takes action. You have to decide to be obedient, then actually be obedient. Obedience is being active in you faith.

2. Our need to keep a clear conscience before God (1 Tim 1:5-7)

This is important because a clouded conscience creates a clouded view of what God expects from us. A clear conscience allows God's Spirit to work though us and direct us. This is where other stuff comes into play. A clouded conscience prevents a whole host of things: obedience, love, kindness, etc. Confession before God is an essential part of active faith. That act of taking responsibility before God is an act of submission. Submission is being active in your faith.

3. Our desire for a deeper walk with God (John 14:21)

This is (as far as I'm concerned and can tell) the most important reason to be active in our faith. Without a deep rooted relationship with our God there is NOTHING else. No ministry, no lost saved, no family, no community/fellowship, nothing. You can NEVER grow a deeper relationship with anyone without being active. James 4:8 says "Come close to God, and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world." God is always there, but will never force Himself on you. You have to draw near to Him (action). The second part of that is that you have to focus on one thing: either God or the world. We have to be active in our relationship with God. When we are active in our relationship with God and that is our only focus, everything else will be right. Intentionally drawing near to God is being active in your faith.

Bottom line is: with out being active in our faith we are not living as we are alive in Christ. God has already given us the tools to live alive and be holy. God desires us to be Christ like. That is the ONLY example there is for being holy. If you're not actively pursuing Christ, you can't be holy. C.S. Lewis said it perfectly in Mere Christianity when he said, "God looks at you as if you were a little Christ: Christ stands beside you to turn you into one."

Living Alive,
Bruce