Author : Vivian Gordon
This is my 90th article on lessons through God's Word. They are alive and active for today. As long as I remain obedient to my Lord, the lessons I continue to learn will only increase my faith and my standard of living. God will spare me from having to learn the hard way, just the right way. Just ask anyone who has submitted their life to Christ about the lessons they were taught from their disobedience. They will have a story to tell. While living in the world to please ourselves, we throw all caution to the wind. We take our chances of getting away with things because it feels good at the time. But this kind of rationalization is not what God wants us to experience. The lessons of correction that come later are not so much fun. In the process some of us will lose things that were very important to us and all we have left are the consequences that we will forever be reminded of. This is a very hard way to learn.If we are a parent, or an owner of a pet, we immediately go to work on discipline. We want our children and our pets to obey our voice. We know that we love them as no one else ever could and the sooner they learn to obey us, the better off they will be. Are we willing to listen to the voice of the Master and do things His way? He knows that the sooner we do, we will be better off as well. Whatever we expect from others, we should be willing to do ourselves by setting an example. Obedience is a sure sign of love."If you love Me, you will obey what I command." John 14:15Are you willingly following Christ or are you testing His patience with disobedience?I have a small dog who has such a zest for life and has on a few occasions let his lack of obedience get him into some real trouble. If something has his attention, he will not hear my voice of command. This lack of control has nearly caused his life. I live in an area where there are many Amish horse and buggies and when he hears them coming, he goes crazy.
One day this summer he got away from me and took off running after the clapping hooves that were prancing down the road. I ran off after him screaming his name. It was my greatest fear that if he made it that far, he would be kicked into eternity by the horse. He didn't pay any attention to the urgency in my call, he just kept running. I couldn't catch up to him and my worst fear came true before my eyes. Only it wasn't the horse that got him, he ran headlong into a passing car. He immediately fell down and lay lifeless. I scooped him up and he came to. Very relieved but still afraid for his recovery I carried him home. After being seen by a vet, nothing was broken but he was in alot of pain for about 2 weeks. I only hoped that he would regain his spirit but learn a lesson of not running off anymore. To this day, he stops when I call his name and when he does see an Amish buggy he just stands there. This was a hard lesson to learn for him. His disobedience nearly killed him. Our disobedience to our Master will bring us lessons learned the hard way too.We can thank the first man, Adam for this dilema today. Being the man in charge, given explicit intructions from God for his own good, he stood idely by and let Eve take that forbidden bite and then he did it too! That was when he seperated his fellowship with God. As a result, all men lack that relationship until they choose to get it back through submission to Christ and obedience to do His Word. If not, life will be one hard lesson after another.The Bible says that God corrects those He loves. In my case He knocked me down hard before He could get my attention. I refer to this as the bug on the windshield syndrome. I was splattered and broken. The only hope of recovery was to ask the Potter to reform this broken body, spirit and mind to it's wholeness. He said, "It's time My child for you to confess your sins and accept My Son as your Lord and Savior. You've learned your lesson the hard way and now I want you to learn to do things My way because I love you."Just as I love my dog and want him to listen because it's what is best for him, God is the same with us. Once you have experienced the agony of defeat, it's a comforting feeling to let Christ be in charge over your life. This is putting all your trust and faith in Him and being able to let go of the things in this world. There was one young man of great wealth who just couldn't bring himself to do this. As a result, it is doubtful that he ever gained access into the kingdom of heaven."And behold, there came a man up to Him, saying Teacher, what excellent and perfectly and essentially good deed must I do to possess eternal life?" Mt. 19:16 (Amplified)Still today there are those who believe that it's something that they can do for salvation. It has nothing to do with our good works, in fact it has nothing to do with us at all!Then Jesus corrected him about being good. Only God is perfectly and essentially good. If we ever hope to reach heaven we MUST CONTINUALLY keep the commandments. Jn. 19:17Jesus tells us that we must keep God's commandments at all times, not when we feel like it. So Jesus continues to tell this young man what the commandments are. But instead of being humbled, the young man was arrogant by saying he served all of them from his youth. Having an attitude of self righteousness is in itself a sin. Jesus recognized what would keep him from a relationship with God and addressed it. He knows our weaknesses as well. Have you done as He has told you yet? This is what he told the young, rich man:"Jesus answered him, If you would be perfect [that is, have that spiritual maturity which accompanies self-sacrificing character], go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; and come, be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me]." Jn. 19:21 (Amplified)As Jesus pointed out, perfection is having spiritual maturity. This is surrendering all to Him in order to possess His riches in heaven. God possesses everything anyway and He has way more to give than we could ever imagine. What can we possibly hope to gain on our own? Our last and final lesson will either be a life with Him...or not. How will you answer Jesus when He comes to your door? Unfortunately, this young man didn't respond for his own good."But when the young man heard this, he went away sad (grieved and in much distress), for he had great possessions." Jn.19:22 (Amplified)To what extent are you willing to pay for your eternal salvation? Could it be for sexual immorality? Could it be for power or fame? Could it be for not wanting to hear the truth? For whatever the reason may be, Jesus said this;"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the kingdom of heaven." Jn. 19:23 (Amplified)The disciples heard this and wondered who would ever be able to get there then. This was utterly impossible. They were right. Jesus told them that with man it is impossible. Only God can make our entrance into heaven possible when we totally submit our will to His will and follow Him.The Bible doesn't say what happened to this man, but he chose to disobey his instructions for eternal life. I'm almost sure that the lesson he learned later was full of consequences, for the rest of his life on earth and in the one after.Just ask Jonah what happens when you choose to disobey God. We may not end up being swallowed by a big fish and spit back out, but God will always have His way in the end. As with anything, it's just easier to follow the rules and laws that are for our own good. We may find ourselves being swallowed up in eternal hell with no chance of ever getting out.If you are finding yourself as being deliberately disobedient, it's never too late to turn around and follow the voice of your Master. Just confess that you are a sinner and believe that Christ died on the cross so you would never be judged. By God's grace we are given something we don't deserve and by His mercy we aren't given something that we do deserve! God loves you so much He gave His own Son up to death for you. Isn't that worth your obedience to Him?The straight and narrow way is God's way for a crooked generation.Vivian Gordon is led by the Holy Spirit to reach out and
give the Christian and non Christian alike something to
think about in their own lives. These articles are meant
to edify the reader and bring them deeper. They are
based on spirituality, inspiration, and today's morals
and how we need to get back to basics.
Keyword : Christianity, Obedience, Inspirational, Spiritual, Behavior, Obedience, Christ, Lesson, Difficulty
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