Holy Obedience
When you hear the word obedience, what do you think of? For me, as a father, I think of obedience in terms of children being obedient to their parents. As a young parent, I am learning what obedience looks like, and I am reminded of how I am not that much different when it comes to obeying than my two-year-old. His battle is the bathtub, mine is not giving into greed. His battle is eating his vegetables, mine is controlling my tongue. The list goes on and on. Though his battles might seem easier than mine, our hearts are similar in pulling us away from the things that are for our good and toward the things that are not. Apart from Christ, our heart is wicked and sinful (Jeremiah 17:9).
Thankfully, just like through my continual, gentle, sometimes stern, command for obedience from my toddler, we are also commanded to obey by our Heavenly Father. We see God’s command for obedience in the book of Exodus when he tells the Israelites, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine,” (Exodus 19:5). In Deuteronomy it states, “You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always,” (Deuteronomy 11:1). This is for our good. Obedience toward God is something that becomes delight, not just duty. It should be something that we want to do because of what God has done through Christ in us.
It is in the life of Jesus that we see obedience modeled perfectly. Holy obedience is the obedience to the Father that Jesus demonstrated throughout his life. In the gospel of Luke, we see Jesus living out obedience to the Father from a young age as he honored his earthly mother and father. Luke records that after Jesus was found listening to the teachers in the temple, he was submissive to his parents as they went down to Nazareth (Luke 2:51). Later in his life, in the garden, Jesus models obedience to the Father as the cross of the crucifixion draws near. Jesus was obedient even to the point of death on a cross in submission to the Father’s will (Philippians 2:8). If you are in Christ, you are called to walk in holy obedience (1 John 5:2-3). It does not come easy, but in Christ, you can answer the call to obedience, through the power of his Holy Spirit. As we seek to become like Jesus, the pursuit of holy obedience is a gift and a grace to us. It is not meant to take away our joy in life, but rather give us joy in full as we follow Jesus together in submission to our Father’s will.
Written by Matt Gaskin
Love Received and Applied
Rhythm: Become Like Jesus
The 2024 Olympics wrapped up recently, and the spectacle of elite athletes pushing their bodies to the extremes to win a prize has always fascinated me. In our house, we watched on the edge of our seats as Armand Duplantis attempted to break the world record in pole vaulting. The bar was set at 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in), and no one in history had ever made it over.
In John 13:34, Jesus gave his followers a command. Something they must do if they are truly His disciples. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” It sounds amazing and something I want to be a part of. I love other believers who are following Jesus, and they love me back. The kind of love required by Jesus is specific. It isn’t a whatever works for you kind of love. The bar has been set. We must love like Jesus loved.
How did Jesus love? Jesus demonstrated the greatest love in all of human history by laying down His own life, taking the full penalty of our sin— notably our repeated failures to love God and others—so that we might find our fullest joy in Him (John 10:18, 15:11, 15:13, Col. 2:14). The bar has been set extremely high. And just like Duplantis, only one has succeeded.
To get more clarification on what the love of Jesus looks like, read 1 Corinthians 13. God starts by saying that we are loving like Jesus when we are patient and kind towards others. But have you ever considered the opposites? Unfortunately, those are what I am naturally best at. I am unloving when I am impatient with others—when they keep me from doing what I want when I want it. When others are talking, and I’m distracted and not really listening, I am unloving. I am unloving with thoughtless, careless words that are unkind or borderline rude. In my lack of love, I simply don’t care about others or their opinions. When I push to get my way and don’t consider others’ needs or perspectives, I am unloving. In my poverty of love, I act irritable or resentful when I don’t get my way. By nature, I am not a loving person. I am selfish and self-centered, focused too much on what would make me happy or my life easy.
But Jesus’ love is a selfless love, an enduring and hopeful love, a love that suffers much from the objects of His love yet does not fade and never wavers (Rom. 8:38-39). The bar has been set higher than I can achieve on my own. If I can’t love others as God has commanded, is there any hope? Yes! By grace and through faith in Christ, we already have what we need to love others like Jesus. We have the very love of God in our hearts. Romans 5:5 makes it clear: “God's love has been poured into our hearts.” So, the solution is simply to give what we have received.
But why does it feel like we don’t have any love to give at times? My tank can feel so empty. Forgetfulness tends to empty our love tank. If we forget the kind of love God has lavished on us to claim us as His own children (1 John 3:1), if we fail to realize the eternal torment from which we have been spared (Matt. 13:41-42), if we are no longer thankful for the underserved blessings from our God (Psalm 103), and if we falsely think we have been forgiven little, our love will be little (Luke 7:47).
Lord, help us to remember the great love with which You have loved us! We have received so much. Therefore, we have much to give.
Written by: Paul Hatfield
Paul and Cori Hatfield have been members of the Mount for almost three years. They have two kids—Aubrey and Jared. Paul currently serves in Worship Arts (kids, adults, wherever) and Re|engage.