What does it look like to walk in obedience? We try to make the answer so complex, so we have the excuse to become perplexed and ignore the text. Romans 13: 8 is saying, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” We however choose to live by commandments of which we can make no amendments. So instead of fulfilling the law we continue to drop the ball.
The text continues on to say that all the commandments are summed up in one word: love. We are to love. But what does that look like for us in contrast to the one who loved so deeply He came to give His all. And by His all I don’t mean a finite amount of giving, but His all was in a mindset that said, “I will die to see you, my children, come to me. Free. To walk into heaven without paying a fee.”
So He he gave His life, paid the cost, died on the tree so that we could indeed be free. And not just free but also that we could be his hands and his feet. Died so that we could bring more lost to the foot of the cross. And how do we do that? The answer we already know is not hard, but rather we ourselves tend to avoid or decide to be oblivious, shove the simplicity to the side, and beg for a formula unsolved when whatever the formula the product of obedience is just this — love
“This love isn’t always a grand gesture, but maybe a series small gesture that over time -let’s hope- would fester in the nonbeliever mind that would in time deliver this lost child of mine.”
And really the grandest gesture to be made was already given by the one under the weight and pressure of a cup that He could not pass because no other could rise to the task to bear the sins of a great mass.
A mass of people fallen from the one lover that says He’d leave none, and though He wants to leave none he has left us… with free will to make the choice to follow or to walk away from Him —the chosen one who has chosen us too.
Chosen to carry out the good work he began and seeks to expand. So do we walk the path of unrighteousness, deceit, and hate? Live sin guided by sin, until at last we’re cast in a sea with no mast.
Or do we grasp the life given by Him who calls, not one, but us all to drop to our knees, fall, and be pleased to find that He wants us to choose. Yes, choose to be used to bring more and more lost to pick up the cross. He already paid the cost.
If you dare to say yes, then your walk will express His love so divine that it breaks barriers time after time. A love so devoted that would reach to the least likely to be voted worthy of His spirit. But His spirit yearns for the ones that in our eyes don’t deserve this prize.
The kids on the street that have no meat clinging to their bones, loved ones, or warm homes. Kids that beg and plead for something they don’t really want, but addiction says otherwise, so that these kids can’t devise to get out of the cycle they live. We see it right before our eyes.
They’re ruled not by consciousness but by viciousness one of Satan’s favored gifts. People pass by and think ignorance is bliss, when really ignorance leaves His kids with this — death.
We don’t walk in innocence but under a scary sense that We. Can’t. Change. Things. So instead we walk in frustration assuming we can’t fix the situation because the situation is bigger than just one kid, it’s nation after nation.
“But… Child,” he says, “don’t fear, for my love casts out fear. I wipe away every tear, so make that gesture and take that step to make a change. I will pour out my spirit over homes, cities, and nation. Through, you, my child, all the world with hear it and take hold of who I am and what I’ve done. I will guide you through it all because I am the one that has given you a heart that says take all and leave none, so don’t.
Don’t just walk the streets, pass by the “dead beats”, take into consideration who is deserving of salvation, don’t just smile or nod, but stop and truly believe that these people are worthy every drop of blood I bled for you to find me and my other lost children to be fed. Feed them. Don’t pretend.
Don’t pretend you have nothing to give because I’ve equipped you with the most marvelous gift. And whether you have no money, or food, or words to offer you look my child in the eye and you give them a reason to wonder. A reason to wonder what is so different about you. And when you see the glimpse of wonder in their spirit you tell them about me. You make that sacrifice of time for me and for this child because at the end of the day the only thing that matters is a soul’s eternity.”
So you ask, “How do I live an obedient life?” The answer is as simple as this: walk a life not lenient to sin, but walk in love. That… well, that is a life obedient to Him.
