Obedience part 3
Unless you trust the One giving the commandment--the New Commandment for the New Man, which is to love one another as Jesus loves us--you'll always feel like you have to obey against your will. And I'm telling you, its hard to go against the grain. Its hard to go against your nature. But when you understand your new (true) nature... the love nature that IS the God who is love living in you... that's when you can understand that God's will and your will line up perfectly. Because its the same thing. God's will is for you to love. And when you fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with--the love of God--you won't be able to do anything BUT love. What's inside DOES come out--or rather, what you believe is inside comes out. So knowing and believing that you are loved is what equips and empowers you to love. Obedience isn't begrudingly doing what you're told even though you don't want to. Its trusting that what you're being told is the best thing going... and doing it because its in your heart to do it. Doing it heartily unto the Lord, and not as unto men. We do it TO men (and women), but we do it unto the Lord. We love God by loving people. How you treat people is how you feel about God. If you treat people badly, its because you feel bad on the inside. Because you feel like you're not loved. Hurting people hurt people. But loved people love people. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." And He said His commandment was for us to love one another as He loves us. We can trust Him and obey--we can love each other--because He first loved us. We are only commanded to love to the same extent that He loves us. So if God wants us to love each other in a big way, He has to first love us in a big way. And, realistically, on the cross He loved us in the biggest way possible. Jesus said the greatest expression of love that a man can have is to lay His life down for His friends. And then He went to the cross and laid His life down for us. He gave His life for us, yes, but He also gave His life TO us. Because He wanted us to have it. And look at how wonderful this is: He didn't just give us His life and say, "Good luck, don't screw it up or I'll take you down." He gave us His life by living His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love in us, and through us, and as us. So really, if love lives in us, and we are commanded to love... obedience is simply letting what's (really) inside come out. By knowing and believing that its inside. By filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. By receiving and releasing the love of God. The love that IS God. Our new (true) nature is love. Our true identity is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. And it all comes down to trust. If you trust that God is love and He loves you... if you trust that love is the more excellent way--the straight and narrow way that leads to life--you will happily obey the New Commandment. And you will be able to obey it because you are a New Man. A new creature. A new creation in life. Created to be loved and to love others with that love. That's why we're here. That's what its all about. Obedience isn't doing what you don't want. Its trusting that being loved and loving others is what you really want!