…through obedience to Christ
Many people, especially the young, bristle at the command to “obey God” not knowing this obedience leads to true freedom. Christ knows our true self, but sin deceives us to live like someone else. We believe we are free when we sin and rebel, yet we actually confuse ourselves and obscure the beautiful people we really are. Please join me as I uncover the paradox of finding freedom to be our true selves when we obey God.
Young people must obey their parents and teachers, but they may grow tired of obeying others. As a result, they may dream about becoming an adult who (they think) does not have to obey anyone anymore. Thus they may resent the Christian faith and decide it is too constricting. This is why many young people say they have abandoned the Christian faith their family practiced. They believe they have found freedom walking away, not knowing they are actually choosing bondage.
Many myths confuse these youths. They may think they have to become just like their parents to be a Christian. They may think God does not want them to have fun and laugh and play and enjoy rich foods and beverages, good music, beautiful clothing, and entertainment. They do not realize these are all lies of Satan. Godly people will gently walk away from these myths, but some people rebel against these myths by sinning, and others try to live by these restrictive lies but develop bitter souls.
I have met people who believed, as children, they had to live by those lies (that say God forbids all pleasures.) Even as adults, they still live in legalistic slavery to those rules. They are miserable, and they further disillusion the youth who see them and do not want to become like them, even though those adults claim they are following Christ.
How silly those lies are! First, God does not call us to become our parents. Honor them? Yes, as we see in both the Old and New Testaments, (Exodus 20:12 & Ephs.6:1-4.) Furthermore, God does not call us to be clones of our parents but to be the people he made us to be. For example, we should not fall into the sin of our parents (Ezek.20:18b, “Do not walk in the statues of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. And Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother…such a person cannot be my disciple,” and Acts 5:29 “We must obey God rather than human beings.”) Furthermore, look at the story of John the Baptist. Although John was Zechariah’s first born child, he refused to name his child after himself but said, “His name is John,” Luke 1:63. Zechariah did not expect his son to be just like him but acknowledged that God had a different plan for this child’s life. As a good parent, Zechariah acknowledged God’s plan for his child, not a plan for John to be his dad’s clone. Proverbs 22:6 confirms this, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This verse actually refers to training a child in her natural bent so she can grow up to be the person God called her to be.
And when some Christians imply we must give up pleasures of good food and beautiful clothing, look again at Scripture. Eccles. 3:13, “People should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor; for these are gifts from God.” And in Nehemiah 8:10 he said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to the Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Furthermore, our clothing can be beautiful: Proverbs 31:22 b, “Her clothing is fine linen and purple.” In Ezek.16:10-13 God told Israel he had “clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.”
Furthermore God wants us to enjoy music and many different instruments. Look at Psalm 150:1-5, “Praise him for his acts of power; Praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, Praise him with the harp and lyre, Praise him with timbrel and dancing, Praise him with the strings and pipe, Praise him with the clash of cymbals, Praise him with resounding cymbals.” God gives us music to enjoy.
And if we wonder if God wants us to laugh, play and have fun, look at the many verses about joy. Even the sarcastic King Solomon said, “I perceived that there is nothing better for them {humans} than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live.” God enjoys seeing all of his children being happy (as long as they do not sin in their happiness.) In Proverbs 5:18 he even specified special joys for married couples: “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.” And for married couples, Solomon also said, in Song of Solomon 1:2, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is more delightful than wine.” God wants everyone to enjoy life and even wants married couples to enjoy marital passion.
In Isaiah 12:3 God says, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” and in verse 6, “Shout and sing for joy…for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” In 2 Chron.9:7 the Queen of Sheba said, “How happy your people must be.” Sometimes God allows us to suffer, but he never enjoys causing us to suffer (Lamentations 3:32-33 “Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.”)
I personally feared this lie, and I dreaded becoming a mother, because I thought I had to stop being myself and become just like my mom. We have nearly opposite personalities. My mom did not laugh readily and was a very serious woman. She was so practical she hated to read poetry and hated dancing. I was a silly, happy-go lucky child who loved to laugh, sing and dance. I did not want to stop being me. But I once met a woman who answered someone’s question about how she felt being a mom with this statement, “I don’t feel like a mom. I just feel like me with a baby.” I had never considered that concept and it helped me realize I could be a mom and not stop being who God had made me to be. My mom was a hard working and loving mom, but just not me, and I still wanted to be the person God had made me.
That is the heart of obedience to God; He does not want us to lose our true identity. We do not obey God like a mindless robot. We get to choose God. He never forces us to choose him. And God knows who we truly are. Our sin nature enslaves us to behave as a servant of Satan (John 8:34b, “Whoever loves to sin is a slave to sin.”) Our obedience to Christ sets us free: John 8: 31-32 + 36, You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’.” + “So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.”
So many people sin and think they are free. They actually say that if they became a Christian they would have to give up their fun. But they have lost their true self. They have disconnected from the Father’s love. Instead, when we obey, we engage with God’s heart. We can find joy in obeying the Father, due to the love of Jesus. He helps us to see with God’s eyes. Remember when the servant Gehazi saw many enemy chariots and thought he would die? We see, in 2 Kings 6:17, “Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.’ So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man {Gehazi} and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” Gehazi thought he could see the real world, but Elisha saw what was truly there.
In our sin nature, we see only our sinful selves. And in an unrepentant state, a person assumes she is her best self. She thinks she is free. But she does not see her beautiful, true self in Christ. Only when she surrenders to Christ does she find her true freedom, 2 Cor. 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, and the new has come.”
Please encourage your lost friends to consider this truth. And if you have never surrendered your heart to Christ, please consider these truths too. God has the best plans for your life, and you will actually find freedom by surrendering in obedience to Christ. He is faithful and he will never disappoint you!
Thanks for joining us in this week’s post. May the Lord bless you this week.