Bold Obedience… “Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had.” 1 Kings 15:11
Anybody can go along with the crowd or commit the sin of silence. Your non-action or quietness could validate the wrong side of the issue being debated. People need to know where you stand. Christ rewards followers who are willing to lose face, lose friends, lose finances and even lose family if it comes down to choosing right or wrong.
“Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life” (Luke 18:28-30).
Bold obedience is what it takes many times to shake a nation, a family, a community or even a church into the realities of God’s expectations. If everyone just goes along as if nothing is wrong, then Satan lulls us into apathy and irresponsibility. So look around you, ask what needs to change, and let God use you as a catalyst for bold obedience. Your no may be the spark that lights the fire of courage in others who have been afraid to speak.
Are you are a student? This could be a time for you to blend in with the crowd and float through your University days undetected. Or you can choose to use this most impressionable time of life as an excuse for bold obedience. Know what you believe, why you believe it and live it! Live it in and out of class. Live it in the Fraternity, the Sorority and at the ballgames. College students are looking for something real and eternal.
Allow your bold obedience be an advertisement of God’s realities, as you are God’s public relations person. Are you serving is overseas in missions, work or the military? This could be a temptation to capitulate to the mores of this foreign culture that are not Christ honoring. However, you remain strong in the Lord, and with grace and humility live the Spirit filled life. Be bold in your obedience and different to the point people ask why you love, accept and give with such boldness and abandonment. It gets results.
“I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs” (Luke 11:18).
What issue or person requires my boldness? How does the Lord define what’s right?
Related Readings: Genesis 4:7; Job 17:9; Acts 4:29; 2 Thessalonians 3:13
