How to Obey Jesus Christ
As followers of Jesus Christ, we should want to live our life in a way that brings honor to Him. However, it doesn’t take long before we see our limitations.
How do we obey Jesus when we feel powerless to do so?
There are many approaches that we might take, and there are many approaches that people have taken. Sometimes these approaches become legalistic dogma, and sometimes not. Sometimes these approaches lead to the kind of righteousness that the Lord really wants, and sometimes not.
Which way is the right way?
Jesus says that He is The Way. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Jesus also says that we cannot do anything on our own. He says, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Just as the vine cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, no more can you unless you abide in me.” We want to abide (live) in Jesus, and we want Jesus to abide (live) in us.
This sounds wonderful, but what does this look like?
We can read our bible and we can pray. These are good starting points. We can learn about how Jesus wants us to live from the scriptures. We can go to Him in prayer, confessing our sins and asking Him to send the Holy Spirit so that Jesus lives within us.
However, there is something that I have found that seems to get in the way. Myself.
It does not seem to matter how much I read the bible, listen to bible studies, acknowledge my sin, and pray to God in faith that He can change me; if I am not willing to get out of His way, then little is going to happen.
Jesus says, “take up your cross and follow me.” He also says that He is as a rock, and “whoever falls on this rock will be broken, but on whoever this rock falls, he will be ground to powder.”
Filling myself with a lot of scripture and praying often does not do anything to really change me if I am not dying to myself. I have to die so that the Spirit of God can fill that space. When He fills that space, then the things that we want to do come more naturally. Then, there is more that needs to die.
It is the dying to self that is the hard part, and this is where we bear some responsibility. We do this in faith, so that He can do the work of rebuilding us. We willingly fall on the Rock. We willingly let go of our egos and our need for self-gratification. We willingly learn to rely on God and not on ourselves and others. If we are willing and at the same time not willing, then we seek Jesus to make our will stronger. We coorporate with Him in this, and eventually our will is going to conform to His.
We are naturally double-minded. James said that a double-minded person cannot expect to receive anything from God. We have to be willing to truly die to the things that are barriers between us and God. We might fight the same issue of double-mindedness for a long time, but if we keep praying about it, then we will die to that thing and the Spirit of God will live there instead.
How do we get away from our double-minded nature? We do so by adopting a state of mind that is connected with God though Jesus Christ.
How do we connect with God?
Learn to connect to Jesus through quietness and prayer. Seek His presence and experience the grace of God first-hand. Once you find that space of His presence, you will know because He reveals things to you in a way that speaks to your spirit. It’s hard to describe. Do what you can to empty yourself of what you think you know about God and what you think you know about yourself. Simply listen and receive. Keep doing this until God answers you. When He does, ask that He keep meeting you in this place of prayer and that He will teach you whatever truth He needs you to know.
It’s okay and good to talk to Him too. Tell Him about all your troubles and accept the will of God for your life so you can find relief from your fears. Ask Him to show mercy to the people who cause you upset, so you can find relief from resentment and unforgiveness. Ask Him to use you as a means of leading people to Him—but this will require dying so that He can live inside you.
Once you find that place of God’s gracious presence, try to find that place again. Maybe you do this once a day for a while. Maybe twice a day. The goal is to eventually take this place with us wherever we go. This is what it means to walk with God. We are ever-mindful of Him, and more than that, our minds are being transformed so that our perceptions are His perceptions. This allows us to naturally obey Him more and more.
Yet, even as our perceptions become His, we see our sins more clearly yet again. So, we die yet again. We “die daily” in-fact, as Paul the Apostle said. We will never be fully in the presence of God until we are raised from the dead, and we might never live in perfect obedience until then. However, we need to accept that if we really want to obey God, then this is only possible with Jesus and His Spirit, and His Spirit cannot live in us if we are in His way.
So, the process of dying and rebirth are continual. Day by day. We are in pain and sorrow over our sins, and yet we are full of joy because of the mercy and power of the Lord. We are suffering because of the sins of the world, and yet we are full of peace, knowing that suffering makes us more like Him and one day our suffering will bring us to where He is. We have times of fear, then we are comforted. We struggle with doubt, then we see that our faith is made stronger.
He can and will do all things through us, and we want to obey Him because to obey Him is to know Him and to know Him is to live and to bring living things to others for His glory. There’s always more for us to gain, and there is always more that needs to die. Let’s always get better at walking humbly with the Lord. “As many as walk after the Spirit of God are the sons of God.”
