This is the weekly email devotional of WhoUWith? Ministries
(2004)
| |
“One step in obedience is worth more
than years of studying about obedience.” –Oswald
Chambers
I have been
involved with college athletics for ten years now and one of things that is
consistently true is your program must have obedience. Players must obey team
rules, or they will be suspended. Coaches must obey recruiting rules, or the
school will be put on probation. Players must have obedience in executing the
game plan, or the team loses. Coaches must have obedience in walking the fine
line between pushing your athletes and losing your athletes.
What
does this word obedience mean? It has grown to have a negative feel to it, but
is obedience really a bad thing? Certainly, you would agree that the product of
obedience is a good thing. We all admire folks we know who have a high level of
obedience.
What does God’s
Word say?:
but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your
God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may
go well with you. Jeremiah 7:23
It is the Lord your
God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him;
serve him and hold fast to him. Deuteronomy 13:4
Obedience is not something you either have, or
don’t. It is a characteristic that must be nurtured, developed and desired
over a consistent period of time. When it comes to sin, obedience is only truly
achieved through the courage and strength we draw from the very spirit of God.
And the only way to draw on that spirit is to know Christ in a real and
intimate way on a daily basis.
We
are not talking about perfection. As much as a coach would love his player to
perform perfectly every down of a football game, it is not very realistic and
would cause a high level of frustration for the coach and athlete. However, a
coach desiring the athlete to give their best each and every time they compete
is not only realistic, but also expected.
God has set a standard of perfection for each of
us to strive for in our lives. Are we going to be perfect? No! That is why God
sent His Son to be perfection in our place…to be what we could
not…obedient to death (Phil. 2:8)! Since we can’t be perfectly
obedient then why should we even try? For the same reasons an athlete practices
and competes…to please the head coach and taste success. Are you striving
to please the “head coach” of life? Pleasing God through obedience is
the sweetest tasting success you will ever experience.
Just a thought!
|
|
|