Obedience is hard!

Obedience is hard!  It's submission to a principle that goes against everything we're made of.

• We see it in our children (they fight our authority at the youngest age...some worse than others!).
• We see it in our teenagers (they brush off sound principles - in our homes, in their schools, by their coaches - thinking their way is better).
• We see it in the adults around us (they squirm under the necessary hierarchy of their work environment, they reject the wise counsel of friends, they're miffed when their spouse "offers" a piece of advice, they ignore the jurisdiction our government was established to provide, whether established rightly or wrongly).
• We see it in ourselves...and I'm the worst offender!  I read and read and read the Bible yet chronically fail to receive and implement its perfect guidance.  Proverbs 1:7 says that "Knowledge begins with respect for the Lord, but fools hate wisdom and discipline."  I often dismiss wisdom and discipline...and consequently, I suffer for it.

No more has this been evident in my life than in the last 23 months.  I've been suffering, not just with the trials & tribulations of a chronic illness but from the consequences of many of my poor decisions.  Now...I know what I'm about to say will cause many of you to bristle at what the Bible has to say on this matter.  Why?  For all the reasons I've listed above (and many, many more)!  But you've got to trust me when I say this:  Once you accept the following concept and allow its work to be done in the different areas of your life where submission is necessary, you will come to know the purest type of freedom you've ever experienced.  I know...I've experienced it.

So here it is:  ...Hold on through your sufferings, because they are like a father’s discipline. God is treating you as children. All children are disciplined by their fathers. If you are never disciplined (and every child must be disciplined), you are not true children.  We have all had fathers here on earth who disciplined us, and we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from [our heavenly Father] so we will have life. Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us, so we can become holy as he is. We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful at the time, but later, after we have learned from it, we have peace, because we start living in the right way (Hebrews 12:7-11 NCV emphasis mine).  Get it?

There's nothing more I need to say accept this one thing.  One of my main problems with accepting God's loving discipline is how my submission to his guidelines will affect others.  When this happens, I always run back to a principle I learned years ago from Oswald Chambers.  "If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs [others] a good deal. If we obey God it will mean that other people’s plans are upset.  [So], are we going to remain loyal in our obedience to God and go through the humiliation of refusing to be independent?  If we obey God, He will look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience. We have simply to obey and to leave all consequences with Him" (My Utmost for His Highest, January 11th, part).

In other words, trust God for what your obedience costs others.