Obedience part 5
I want to finish this Rant series strong. So let's jump right into it. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servant ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16). I think that's what I've been trying to say this whole time. Because sin is unbelief. So if your choices are sin or obedience... your choices are believing or not believing. Obedience isn't doing what you're supposed to (even though you don't want to) or else. Obedience is believing that what God wants for you is what's best for you. Jesus didn't say, "Obey me or else." He said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). If you trust me... do what I'm doing. Because His commandment is love. Love one another as He loves us. That's it. That's the new commandment for the new man. Let God love the hell out of you and love Him back by loving others with that same love. We obey God by believing God. And did you notice that it is "obedience unto righteousness"? The most--perhaps the only--righteous thing you can do is love. And don't forget that we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ. Righteousness is not just what we do. Its who we are. Love is not just what we do. Its who we are. Where we get into trouble is when we yield ourselves to unbelief. When we, as we saw yesterday, don't cast down the imaginations and the high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God--the knowledge of love. I'm trying to say this strong: If it ain't love... it got to go. And letting people use and abuse you is not how you let people love you. Because love doesn't use and abuse. Love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. Love nurtures. Love edifies. Love protects... while letting people be who they are. Love doesn't control or dominate. All of that stuff is sin and death. The world telling you how you have to be is death. Because at the end of the day you are who you are and you can't be anybody else. But love TELLS you who you are. Who you really are. By telling you who God really is. A heavenly Father who unconditionally loves His Son. A Son who is equipped and empowered by the love of His Father. Its so important that we know who we are. So important. Because, as I mentioned we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ. Our obedience doesn't make that true. Its already true. Our obedience lets what's inside come out. So when we yield ourselves to the truth... we experience the truth. We experience Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting Him live it in us, and through us, and as us. We let the love that is inside come out by obeying God. By BELIEVING God. By knowing and believing that His love--which IS life--is in there. Its too big to stay in there. It HAS to come out. Whatever you believe is inside WILL come out. So believe the truth. The truth that God is love and He loves you. Yield yourself to the right master. You can't serve two masters. But you DO serve one. Sin unto death. Or obedience unto righteousness.