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Monday, April 18, 2005
I was in a fraternity in college. I was walking with Christ. I stuck out like a sore thumb.
There were days when I got tired of being the designated driver. My friends looked like they were having so much...
...well...
...FUN.
There were days when it seemed like going to the party for the express purpose of doing all those things my friends did at parties was so much more...
...well...
...FUN...
...than honoring God with my behavior.
But, for whatever reason (which, in retrospect, I have come to see as God's grace in my life), I KNEW better. I simply had a clear line in my mind of what "right" was and what "wrong" was in God's eyes. Chalk it up to a couple of years in a good Bible teaching church, or loving people who took the time to disciple me, or my circle of friends in Bible study who sharpened me, but I remember having thoughts that were distinctly dishonoring to God.
And, I'd pray and ask God for strength, and then something would happen that would remind me about the 4th element of walking by the Spirit, which is OBEDIENCE to Him.
One of those times I was sitting in my room praying during one of the Thursday night socials we were having with a sorority, having a bit of a pity party that my friends were having so much "FUN." Telling God that I would be obedient but I didn't like being obedient and I didn't really enjoy being a Christian all that much and asking why Christians had to be so boring and asking Him how come I wasn't having any "FUN." The pity party prayer was really about me.
Then my friend Tim entered the room and closed the door behind him. This never happened.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
"Sure, Tim. What's up?"
"Well, it's about Lauren. She's LATE." Tim stared at the floor. "I'm not sure what I'm gonna do if she's pregnant. I mean, she's not really the kind of girl I'd want to marry or anything like that. She's fun and smart and all, but I'd never thought of her as a wife. On the other hand, I always thought that if I had a kid, it'd be in a 'family' kind of deal...me and my wife and kids and I'd be a good dad and everybody would be happy. If she's pregnant, everything's gonna change. I'm only a junior in college and I gotta finish up my classes and graduate...but if she's pregnant she'll have the kid in the middle of my senior year. I'd have to get out of the fraternity. My parents are gonna be all kinds of mad and disappointed. Man, I'd really thought my senior year was really gonna be FUN, too." Then he trailed off.
I gave him some sort of lame advice about waiting to find out all the facts.
I faked some biological knowledge about girls and how LATE doesn't always mean PREGNANT.
I told him to hang in there, and not let his mind run away with itself and gave some stupid analogy about playing poker and only playing the cards in your hand, not what might be in the deck.
Tim thanked me for listening and even thanked me for the lame advice by telling me that's why he came to talk to me because he knew I'd put it in perspective for him.
Then, as he was leaving my room he turned and said, "You know something? You're really lucky. You stick to your religion and you don't have to worry about stuff like this. I wish I could stick to my religion...it'd keep me out of crap like this."
I literally teared up when he left, thanking God for being so patient with me. Here I was telling God I wanted to be more like Tim, and Tim was going through one of the most difficult few days in his life because he was being like...
...well...
...Tim.
But it's true. One of the elements of walking by the Spirit is OBEDIENCE. And a nice example of this is found in James 1: 22--25:
"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in one he does."
The Greek word for "prove" above actually means to "test and approve." The idea is that, through experience you can verify the reality. We're to prove that we're a "doer" of the word and not merely a "hearer."
I've found it difficult, in my area, to find someone who doesn't know what the Bible has to say in most of the areas of behavior. I mean, I don't know teenagers who come into their home and say things like, "Mom, I discovered the coolest thing last night. There's this drug called cocaine..." or "Mom, I had sex last night and it was awesome!" or "Mom, I lied to you and the benefits far outweighed the punishment." I just happen to live in the Bible Belt and morality is pretty well uniform. And that standard is much more Biblically influenced than legally influenced.
In short, we have a lot of hearers of the word.
It's the "doing" that our community tends to have problems with. It's the doing Christians have difficulty with.
But there are benefits in the real world, too. Just like there are benefits to waking up and looking in the mirror. You wake up and check yourself out in the mirror. You make a certain decision to fix a few things. Brush some hair here. Wash the face there. Think about what your friends would say if you rolled out of bed, looked in the mirror, said, "Yep. Good to go from here." And you just went through your day in your pajamas and all that. If you forgot what you looked like there would be definite repurcussions...everything from jokes to maybe serious conversations about you needing to see a counselor.
But if you roll out of bed, look in the mirror and make changes, there are benefits. You don't have your friends worrying about your mental capacity/sanity. You make positive first impressions with other people. You don't have to worry about any of the negative connotations of poor hygiene.
It's the same way with doing the Word and not just hearing it. If you obey the Word, then you realize that there are benefits. If you don't gossip, you don't lose friends. If you don't have sex, you don't have to worry about your girlfriend being late. If you tell the truth, you get a good reputation. If you don't drink, you don't get a hangover and don't embarrass yourself. I could go on and on, but you get my point.
It's cyclical. The more you obey the Word, the more you see the "benefits" of obedience, the more strength it gives you to obey the word more, which gives you more "benefits." Ultimately, you'll "prove" to yourself (and others) the value of obedience.
So, for today, can you tell us of a time when you obeyed and it "proved" to be the best thing for you and how it encouraged you the next time you had to deal with being obedient?
Brent 6:48 AM
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