Daily Grace At
Jesus` Feet
January 19,
2010
Obedience
a Pre-requisite Not Optional!
"If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples – John 8:31
Jesus said
to the Jews who had believed in him
in John 8:31, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you
will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free." As you may see, this command is to the people who believed in
Jesus
Christ. In our Christian walk there are several stages. We start as
children
and as we continue to believe in Him, we become more of believers and
as we
continue to obey we become disciples. As we continue to be discipled by
other
Godly mentors, we start helping others to grow in our Lord and disciple
them, we
become disciple makers. As we see those ones we discipled start
discipleship
groups and help others to grow, we become the maker of the disciple
makers. That
is what the pattern Apostle Paul fall into. The most important
ingredient to
become a disciple is obedience. Jesus says in the above verse that if
one obeys
or abides in my commands, he is my true disciple. We may see many
“disciple-alike”
in our lives but only those who obey God’s Word and follow it are “True
Disciples.” Only to those truth is revealed and only those will be
liberated and
become free from their clutches of self-justification, self-pride,
self-righteousness and all other bondages of sinfulness as they
progress
towards deeper Christian maturity. They will obey what God says and
will have
the ability to distinguish between the truth and the falsehood and keep
transforming in their Christian-life process after salvation called
“Sanctification.” Those who obey and abide by His Word are those not
only seen
physically matured but also seen maturity in their life and
spirituality. God
says those are the ones I look for and want to recruit as my disciples.
In fact,
the first requirement God looks when recruiting disciples is
“obedience.” We
read the disciple recruitment strategy of Jesus Christ in Luke 5:1-11.
After
being tempted by satan and overcoming him through the power of the Word
and
performing various miracles (in Luke 4), probably Jesus decided to pick
a group
of Godly men who not necessarily have the “ability” but the
“availability” and
the prime qualification, “Obedience.” Now Jesus goes around by the Lake of Gennesaret. He then noticed
couple of
boat and also noticed Simon who is the owner of these boats. Jesus is
looking
for people who will be His disciples. Before even Simon (Peter) became
one of
the rocks in the building of God’s Kingdom and a powerful apostle, you
can
see his
humble beginning. God can use a simple-minded person like Peter to
build His
kingdom and
can make him a powerful and a wise vessel for His glory. The first
simple
command
Jesus gives Simon Peter is to “move the boat a little inside toward the
see and
away from the land.” Now Peter had the option to simply ignore Jesus
with the
fact that he and his other friends, James and John were much dejected
from
their over-night fishing effort in vain. But Peter “Obeyed” and that
initial
encounter of Jesus with Peter was a success and that success was a
result of
Peter’s obedience. Now because of this Jesus had an opportunity to
perform this
miracle where Peter and his friends caught large number of fish from
nothing.
As we read from verses 4 – 6, “When Jesus had finished speaking, he
said to
Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled
all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
And
when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and
their nets
were breaking." Obedience led Peter from nothing to greater blessings.
Still
Peter complied with the third challenge. When Jesus asked Peter to
follow him
and that He will make him a fisher of men, Peter and also his friends,
“left
everything and followed him.” Peter when blessed did not follow the
“blessings”
but followed the “Giver of blessings”. Many times when God blesses us
we follow
the blessings and forget the “Giver of Blessings.” But a would-be
disciple will
follow the “Giver of Blessings.” How about you? Will you follow Him and
His
Words? He will also recruit you to be His disciple and make you a great
blessing to your family and the world to impact His Kingdom.
<>In
Arabian
countries a method was followed to select horse to the kings and
ministers and
noble men. The physically blameless
horses selected first and go through rigorous training in the deserts
of the Middle East. The trainers
require absolute obedience from
the horses, and test them to see if they are completely trained. The
final test
is almost beyond the endurance of any living thing. The trainers force
the
horses to go without water for many days. Then the trainer turns the
horses
loose and because of the hunger and thirst, they start running toward
the
water, but just as they get to the edge, ready to plunge in and drink,
the
trainer blows his whistle signaling the horses to “stop.” The horses
who have
been completely trained and who have learned perfect obedience stops
immediately. They turn around and come pacing back to the trainer. They
stand
there quivering, wanting water, but they wait in perfect obedience.
When the
trainer is sure that he has their obedience, he gives them a signal to
go back
to drink. Now
this may be
severe but when you are on the trackless desert of Arabia
and king’s life is entrusted to a horse, one had better have a trained
obedient
horse.
Obedience
to
one God leads to obedience to one another in Christ, submitting to
authorities,
obeying parents, obeying spouses, and obeying all God’s commands.
Obeying mean,
trusting in Him and trusting in His Words or Promises.
For
a Disciple,
Obedience is a Pre-requisite and is Never Optional!
Prayer: Father,
teach me how to trust and obey you and your words amid my own reasons
and
surrounding doubts. In Jesus Name, Amen!
May
you have a
great day!