Loving Connectedness--Obedience

2/7/2000

The obedience that comes from faith is a noble obedience. The obedience of a slave ranks only a little higher than the obedience of a well trained horse or dog, for it is motivated by the crack of the whip (1 Cor.4:21, 2 Cor.1:24). Obedience that is not cheerfully rendered is not the obedience of the heart, and consequently, IS OF LITTLE WORTH IN THE SIGHT OF OUR FATHER. If a person obeys because he has little choice in the matter, and would rebel if he had the opportunity, there is nothing in his obedience. The obedience of faith springs from an internal principle (melting into our true love and companionship with Jesus) and not from external compulsion. It is sustained by the mind’s most sober reasoning and the heart’s warmest passion. It happens this way: A person reasons with himself that he ought to obey his Redeemer, his Father, his God; and, at the same time, the love of Christ compels him to do so. Therefore, what argument suggests, affection performs. A sense of great obligation, an understanding of the justness of obedience, and a spiritual renewal of the heart which comes from the Lord (2 Cor. 3:17-18) produces an obedience that becomes essential for the sanctified soul. Therefore, he is not relaxed in the time of temptations or destroyed in the hour of losses and sufferings. There is no trial of life that can turn the gracious soul from his passion for obedience, and death itself will be able to render an obedience that will be blissful as it will be complete. (C. Spurgeon, 1873)