The
Bible talks a lot about obedience and disobedience. I for one think
I’m pretty good when I obey Jesus after a time of desperately
wanting to disobey.
“Aren’t I something Lord? You must be plenty
glad to have me on Your side.”
Pfft!
The
fact is, none of us know what it’s like to obey our Lord and
Saviour.
None
of us have sweated great drops of blood from the anxiety generated by
wanting to do something other than what God has called us to do. When
the stress of doing the right thing gets too strong, we simply
disobey, do the wrong thing to relieve the stress.
And then we ask for
forgiveness.
Kinda
pitiful - isn’t it?
The
fact is, none of us know what it means to be obedient.
“Jesus
learned obedience through what He suffered.”
That
doesn’t mean that Jesus started out disobedient and slowly but
surely learned to do the right things all the time. Jesus NEVER
disobeyed God the Father. What it means is that Jesus learned the
essence of, or the nature of, or the full quality of obedience. Through
continual practice, Jesus learned what it felt like to be obedient at
all points all the time, especially when tempted to disobey.
Through
experiencing obedience in every and all circumstances, Jesus could
say, “So THIS is what it means to obey. So this is what We’re
asking humans to do.”
And THAT is why Jesus truly can be our high
priest, our counsellor, or guide and comforter. He knows what it’s
like to obey. He knows how hard it is to obey. And that is why “We
can come boldly and with confidence to the throne of Grace to receive
mercy and find grace in our time of need.”
