Choosing Blessing Through Obedience
August 23, 2019
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:13-17
I cleaned my medicine cabinet last week. I discovered a few nearly full containers that I had never used. I briefly wondered, “What hung around too long because I didn’t follow the instructions?" I had some problems with my computer this week, and when I went to the help/instructions page, I found I was experiencing a problem because I did not respond to messages to download an app that would head off the very problem I was experiencing. If we had an overload of time and space, I could entertain you with many instances of when I struggled because I did not follow the helpful instructions. I am sure that most of you could add a few of your own.
Jesus commented on that very issue when He was teaching His disciples about living the life of a servant. He gave the prescription, outlined the instructions, then He said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” That sounds like a no-brainer, but evidently not. We all know more about what we SHOULD do than what we actually do. This affects many areas of our lives including financial, medical, and relational areas. We often end up feeling broken and not blessed, struggling and not satisfied, but we rarely connect the dots back to the things we knew to do but neglected them or even actively chose to skip them.
Nowhere is this more serious than in our relationship with Jesus. He has been very direct and plain in what being His faithful, fulfilled follower requires. He even makes a point of telling us, “Your blessings come from obedience, from doing what I have shown you to do. You know what to do; now do it.”
I am sure that right now you can think of people, maybe even yourself, who feel very disappointed with life and don’t understand God’s seeming neglect of them. Why do they not experience His blessings? We all also know people who may not have all the material things that can make life look more successful, yet they are satisfied and always singing the praise of their faithful God. They see themselves as incredibly blessed. The difference is that they are obedient and willing to live as servants. Jesus says, that is the place from where the blessings flow.
- What do you know that Jesus has taught you, but you aren’t obeying?
- Talk to Him about it. Obedience is far more effective than an eloquent prayer. Don’t pray to be blessed; obey your way to blessing.