Friday, November 2, 2012

Making Choices

My Utmost For His Highest
 
‘Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. […] In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. […] The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. […]  And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. […] If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.’ CHAMBERS
Obedience … why does that seem to have a negative connotation?  I think maybe because it means that I don’t have control .. that I fear my  best interests are not the primary point of my obeying.  Because following God is not forced obedience … we think that it is optional.  Chambers is suggesting that it is the ‘key’ to unlocking the door to the fulfillment of my ‘spiritual destiny’.  1 Samuel 15:22But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’
 
Psalm 51:16-17You [Lord] do not delight in sacrifice, or I [David] would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
 
In the one case Samuel was talking to King Saul .. in the other King David .. Saul’s replacement … was talking about the same issue … obedience .. thinking we should do something other than what God has said has been going on a long time .. well, since the Garden ….
 
Imagine of you determined to obey God and not follow your own path … sounds a little like repentance doesn’t it?  And you found out that it really works!  That when you trust in God and not yourself .. life is better … that when you delight in the Lord, you are satisfied … following our own way never leads to satisfaction … we will always want more … our flesh is insatiable.  When Andrew Carnegie, who was a very generous man,  was asked how much money he needed when he had more than he could spend in a thousand lifetimes, he said, ‘Just a little more.’
 
So how are you doing with your life?  Do you feel like you have things well in hand and if you need God you will let him know?  Or are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?  There is no better place to be, yet like a little child our tendency is to wander off … to go after that shiny object .. or the thing that has caught our attention .. and in pursuit of that thing, we forget all about the Lord.  You know that answer … and so does the Lord … draw close to Him .. and be doers of the word and not hearers only.  James 1:22
 
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

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