Obedience

[Jam2b40]

I've been searching deeper within me and pondering the need and capacity to be more obedient as a follower of Christ.

 

All these Scriptures keep coming to mind like, 

John 14:15 

Mark 12:28-30

Ephesian 5:1-5

 

And I think of teaching in the Old Testament about obedience bringing God's blessings and protection in the lives of the Israelites. I have friends who are gentile Christians who believe in keeping old Testament laws for this reason. 

 

Then I think about grace, and mercy, and forgiveness of all sins... I know that I can never be perfect, and there will always be shortcomings in my life, old lessons that have to be learned again, or renewed, or applied in ways I have not had to before. However, if would be nice to have a more tidy, righteous, and steadfast life. It would be nice to feel closer to the Lord and more confident in my walk with Him. 

 

I wonder if I should try to focus more on obedience and discipline, or if I should trust in His grace and rest knowing that I've tried. If more obedience is warranted, how far does one go with that? Old Testament Law? New Testament teachings only? Seeking perfection in devotion and setting my mind, body, and heart aside for Him? How hard do I take it when I fail? I can imagine myself being devastated on a daily basis with my faults and weaknesses. I can also imagine myself shaking it off and trusting in grace.

 

I guess my question is, at what point is this balanced? Is there a balance?

 

[GandalfTheWise]

5 hours ago, Jam2b40 said:

I've been searching deeper within me and pondering the need and capacity to be more obedient as a follower of Christ.

 

All these Scriptures keep coming to mind like, 

John 14:15 

Mark 12:28-30

Ephesian 5:1-5

 

And I think of teaching in the Old Testament about obedience bringing God's blessings and protection in the lives of the Israelites. I have friends who are gentile Christians who believe in keeping old Testament laws for this reason. 

 

Then I think about grace, and mercy, and forgiveness of all sins... I know that I can never be perfect, and there will always be shortcomings in my life, old lessons that have to be learned again, or renewed, or applied in ways I have not had to before. However, if would be nice to have a more tidy, righteous, and steadfast life. It would be nice to feel closer to the Lord and more confident in my walk with Him. 

 

I wonder if I should try to focus more on obedience and discipline, or if I should trust in His grace and rest knowing that I've tried. If more obedience is warranted, how far does one go with that? Old Testament Law? New Testament teachings only? Seeking perfection in devotion and setting my mind, body, and heart aside for Him? How hard do I take it when I fail? I can imagine myself being devastated on a daily basis with my faults and weaknesses. I can also imagine myself shaking it off and trusting in grace.

 

I guess my question is, at what point is this balanced? Is there a balance?

 

What you are asking takes us straight to the heart of the gospel.  I would express the good news in two parts.  Part 1:  Through the work of Jesus Christ, all of our sins are forgiven, God adopts us as His children, and He no longer counts our sins against us.  Part 2:  The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us and will transform us into a new creation (the unique person God intends for us to be) from whom good works naturally flows out and over whom sin no longer holds us in bondage.   Part 1 occurs instantly.  Part 2 is a process.

The challenge is to learn to walk with God and be changed by God's power.  To the extent we make it only about our own willpower, discipline, and efforts, we are attempting to bring about transformation by our own efforts.  To the extent God changes us, good works and deeds start to flow freely; sins and bondage start to vanish.  When we are focusing most of our attention and energies on worrying about sin and duties, we tend to start fighting sin with our own efforts and trying to please God through our own efforts.  When we focus on knowing God more and growing spiritually, we tend to focus more on what God wants to do to change us.  Now this sounds nice, but what does it look like in practice?

Speaking for myself, I've noticed that transformation occurs both as gradual improvement and growth and with sudden changes where God does something unexpected.  There are some things in my life that just changed slowly over time and some things that happened in an instant.  

I found that faith, trust, and confidence in God were things that grew over the years.  These came about from just seeing God do things in my life and other peoples' lives, and just getting used to walking with Him over the years.  I found that the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) just started becoming more and more apparent in my life over time.  It was that these things just started emerging more and more over time.  It wasn't that I started disciplining myself to be more patient (by learning to count to 10 or taking anger management classes), it was just that I found myself not getting angry as often about things.  Regular spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible reading, spending time with other Christians, and similar things lead to spiritual growth.  It is the spiritual growth and maturity in our lives that leads to us being more Christlike.

I also found that some things in my life needed to be fixed directly by God.  All of us carry spiritual and emotional wounds and injuries and bondages from before we were Christians.  These things often cripple us and prevent us from walking, jumping, and dancing in our walk with God.  Sometimes (not always, but sometimes) addictive and compulsive behaviors that have us in bondage are symptoms of needing spiritual healing.  I found a few long-term sins and problems I seemed to struggle with for decades simply vanished when God carried out some emotional healing in my heart.  I've heard many people (who suffered abuse or neglect) testify to how certain sins and unhealthy thought patterns and similar things just vanished away when God brought them to a point of being healed of the deep injuries that they had born for many years.  Sometimes to walk, dance, and jump in our walk with God, we need to be healed or freed from some crippling bondage.

A final thing I found is that I needed to learn how to walk with God the unique way He created me to.  I used to try to schedule my prayer life, Bible reading, etc. the same way everyone else did; and I always seemed to struggle with it.  I then eventually learned that God made me into a person that needs variety and change.  I've found that for a period of time (often 3 to 6 months), a particular schedule and emphasis is very fruitful and fun, and leaves me energized and growing.  Then in a period of a few weeks, it is like that thing just dries up and doesn't yield much for me.  I used to think it was my fault and tried to force myself to work harder at it, but that rarely worked.  I simply discovered that when something dries up, it is time to move to the next thing God has for me.   In contrast, I know people who've had the same prayer and Bible reading routines for decades and it works well for them.  I've come to see that we each need to learn how to walk with God in the way He made us to be.

I've found that it is best to focus on where God is taking me at a given time.  I used to have a long list of things I thought I was supposed to be doing for God.  Then I found His list was usually quite different and usually a lot shorter than mine.  Sometimes it's a matter of settling into a comfortable pattern for awhile; other times it's going through some type of change or transition; sometimes it's something we need to challenge ourselves, step outside the comfort zone, and take a step in faith; sometimes it's facing things that are hard or painful because God wants to fix something.  In any event, our walk with God is about following where He guides and enjoying His presence.

Anyway, I hope this helps.  If something isn't clear or you have any questions, please feel free to ask.