Suffering in the Path of Obedience

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Obedience. That was the word I wrote on the board when our senior pastor asked us to write a word which we would like to pursue this year, 2019. I’ve been struggling with obedience since I was child. I could come up with an array of reasons, excuses, and dramas just so I could make my way or get what I want. 

This year isn’t a stellar year for me. As a matter of fact, I was not able to have a perfect obedience to the Lord. I’ve struggled with walking in the Spirit so that I will not gratify the desires of my flesh (Gal. 5:16). I, like Paul, could feel that pain of his sentiment, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Rom. 7:15).” Whenever I fall short, I could hear Jesus say, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38).” Countless days have passed when I wake up asking, “God, why is it so hard to obey?” 

There was suffering in the path of obedience. Killing my flesh did not go easy. It was painful. Abiding in Christ, walking in the Spirit and becoming more like my Savior felt like carrying a cross daily. It is impossible for me to be able to obey perfectly apart from Christ; no one among Christ’s disciples were able to obey Him perfectly. They like I have at some point yielded to their flesh. Thus, killing our flesh is a constant battle that has been long overcomed by the Lord. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4)”. Yes, God demands perfect obedience for ,although his love is perfect, his judgment is also perfect. He, being a holy God, tolerates no sin. But, we being created to be dependent to our Creator, can’t do it on our own. That is why God prepared His provisions: for our heart we go to Ezekiel 36:26, for our soul we go to Psalm 19:7 and for our mind 2 Corinthians 4:6. 

We are therefore called to ask, and it will be given; seek, and we will find; knock, and it will be opened to us (Matthew 7:7). It is all because of God’s grace that we are able to obey Him. So glory to Him. 



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