It's Your Way or My Way

Scriptural Readings: John 1:1, 29, Proverbs 16:1-4

What comes to our minds when we hear the word obedience? We always have in our mind the word following. Right? Is obeying difficult? As we grow old, it seems that this word isn’t easy to do. Once we start to pursue things, we end up with difficulties. Even with the help of modern technology, we complain a lot rather than obey.

The world that we live in continuously opposing our spiritual being. The bible warned us about these things. It is really with hardships that we have to live the Christian way. There are three ways we follow. First, our way. Second evil’s way, and the third, God’s way. If it is our way, everything will end up with a lot of complaints and questions. If it’s the evil way, we will arrive with the opposite of our expectations, and of course, God’s way. There is no other way how to live our lives but to attain a Christ-like manner of living. 

John 1:1

King James Version

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

New Living Translation

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Obedience is synonymous with conformity. One thing that we have to understand, however, is the application and the results. As Christians, we are to obey, and later on, exactly to become what God has planned for us. A lot of Christians today are obedient but not conformed to the standards God has set for us. We missed the things God has prepared for us. 

Christianity is all about the invincible and invisible God made Himself available to us through Jesus Christ. He conformed into a human to make sure will not enter and suffer eternal damnation. When the Word became flesh, it was obedience. Obedience to conformity is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Obedience to death by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ brought us back to God’s original plan. 

John 1:29

King James Version

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

New Living Translation

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

We have to be aware of everything regarding our spiritual lives. If we are not going to do these things, we will surely miss something. The death of Jesus on Calvary took away the sin, the root cause why we commit sins, and the guilt God imputed to us. It means that we must reckon dead on loving to commit sins, and above all, when we face God, He sees Jesus, not us. He will not hold us accountable for all the sins we committed. We are not guilty of anything. Jesus paid the price. 

Proverbs 16:1-3

King James Version

v.1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, from the LORD.

v.2 All the ways of a man clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

v.3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

New Living Translation

v.1 We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.

v.2 People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives.

v.3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

First, by grace, we are saved. God can continue His plan for us. Salvation has to come first. Second, by obeying Him, we are doing His will as He commanded so. As we abide and conform to His will, He is going to reveal His divine plan. A plan that we will be thrilled about working on. A perfect plan filled with His will and the life we are searching for in this chaotic world. The works He will be giving us would surely be thrilling for us.

The bottom line is, we can never miss God. He promised not to leave us nor forsake us. He is all-powerful and can provide us everything we need. He knows everything about us. We can trust Him. Obeying God is the transforming power that we need in our lives. The moment we entered into the path God has for us, we will know fully what the word success is all about with no doubts and full of confidence.

Obedience starts by trusting and having a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He took care of our salvation, gave us eternal life and security because he obeyed God our Father, and this is what He wants us precisely to do. We will never have a carefree life. We will still be having insecurities, miseries even if we have all the riches in this world. We suffer these things because it is our fault, and to remedy these things, God sent His son for us to obey Him.

It can be true that we are obeying His will, but sometimes we still entertain doubts that cause the slowing down of His plan. Another thing why we do not have progress is that we might be operating on some other things. Remember that we are to commit our actions to the Lord so that our plans will succeed. It is always to be His plan, not ours.