Monday, July 5, 2010

Obedience or disobedience?

The more people I have talked to lately, the more I keep hearing about how busy everyone is and how distracted they are. They say they want to be less busy or more focused or more disciplined, but somehow the busyness binds them up and defeat seems to set in. I totally get it! In order for me to truly hear from God, I need less on my to-do list and more time on my knees. This is a hard task for me. I love the Lord, but I am also hard-wired with a permanent never ending to-do list in my brain. Shutting down that list and just sitting and listening to God takes a lot of discipline on my part.

Lately, I have been really battling with God over what he has or has not called me to do. Please understand it isn't that he asked something of me that I'm not willing to do - I'm just seeking clarity and trying to lay my own personal and possibly selfish desires aside for His plans for my life. I want to hear him clearly and obey him passionately and completely.

God has been directing me to a lot of scripture recently concerning obedience vs. disobedience. I'm not talking about doing good things vs. doing 'bad' things. I'm talking about obeying God and doing what He tells me. There are lots and lots of good things we can do. There is a never ending list of things we could do that seem right and even in line with the Word of God such as caring for the poor and widows, reaching out to the lost, helping the sick, etc. God has not called each of us to be all things to all people. He has a specific and unique calling for each of us. And that is where the obedience and disobedience come in to play. Sometimes being obedient means saying 'no'.

Am I being obedient to God? Period. 1 John 3:21-22 says "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." So am I obeying his commands for my life?

Deuteronomy 28 lays it out boldly concerning obedience and disobedience. In the book of Haggai the people were so busy being about their own business and not doing what God asked of them that blessings were withheld, resources withheld and the House of the Lord was a mess. The people were so inwardly focused on their own lives and their own to-do lists and their own plans that the house of the God was being neglected. This is the kind of obedience vs. disobedience I am talking about. Have we taken the time to seek the Lord and inquire of Him as to what we are to be doing? Or are we just being busy doing something because that something seems better than nothing?


2 comments:

Ethan said...

The more people I talk to, the more people I hear are looking for clarity in their calling, myself included. Seems like a transition period is coming up.

You're not alone in this.

Anonymous said...

Kim, I really feel like God wired us very similar. We both seem to have a Martha personality. I many times feel like my to-do list takes over my life. I know I miss out on blessings many times because I worry so much about taking care of others and pleasing them. What about pleasing God? He is who I need to focus on. We will continue to pray for each other in this and let God be the center of our lives not the busyness of life! Love you girl! Susan V.