From the Word

100% OBEDIENT
A Bible study that my wife and I lead has been focusing on obedience. It got me really thinking the past few days about the subject. How does a person become 100% obedient to God and His Word? Is that even possible? If you look at the number of times I screw up in one day you would say a resounding "NO." So is the solution to say, "Well, we're all human and we all struggle with the flesh, I'm not perfect." Although that statement may be true, we are leaving out the biggest part of our faith. Jesus Christ. Isn't that when all our problems arise, when we leave out Jesus? We talk about OUR faith, we talk about OUR struggles, we talk about what WE need to do for God and we totally leave Jesus out of the picture. Scripture tells us time and time again to "deny yourself" (Luke 9:23), crucify the flesh (Galatians 2:20), the old self is gone (2 Corinthians 5:17) yet when we talk about being obedient to Christ we talk about that same person, "me", who is supposed to be dead! My human nature has nothing to do with being obedient to Christ. In fact if it were totally up to human nature I would be wallowing in my sin. It is the new creature that wants to be obedient. It is the new man that God uses. It is the new person that has no regard for "me" and seeks the things that are important to God. So where do we go from here?

Let me be honest. As musicians, it is human nature that wants to be in the spot light. It is human nature that wants to be the star of the show and that robs us of the ability to be 100% obedient to God. We are far too focused on "me." I am guilty of this as well and although I hate to admit it, it seems God has to constantly re-teach me the same lesson over and over again. That tells me two things--either I am a blooming idiot or this is a hard lesson for humans to learn (I really am hoping for the second). This is a daily event. I said it just two studies ago - I must deny self... DAILY. To be 100% obedient I have to take myself totally out of the mix and set my mind on things above. God must receive the glory and His will must be accomplished.

SCRIPTURE READING
Galatians 2:17-21, 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, Romans 8

BOTTOM LINE
I am 100% obedient when I am 100% dead to human nature.