Choice

 Obedience is a choice, as is the speed with which we obey. You may hear “This is the way, walk in it” whenever you turn to the left or the right, but then you have to choose to obey His voice and not follow your heart, your eyes, the whispering voices, or the glittering fool’s gold strewn about. God can’t force you to obey. He can, however, inform you of the consequences of disobedience if that’s the avenue you choose to pursue.

Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

The dreaded ‘IF’ strikes again. It doesn’t say He will kick your door in, tie you to a chair, and force you to sit at the head of the table while He spoon-feeds and entertains you. Nor does it say He’s going to bum rush you and force you to have a relationship with Him whether you like it or not. God doesn’t commit assault, nor does He practice breaking and entering. He knocks, and if you open the door, He will come in and dine with you.

Forced obedience is no obedience at all; it’s compliance. It’s what bank tellers do when someone waves a gun in their face and demands all the cash in the till; they comply. If given the opportunity, they’ll push the alarm button or get away from the man waving the gun. They’re not participating in the robbery of their own free will. It’s not something they wanted, desired, or hoped they’d experience.

The problem with compliance is that when there is no love, sense of duty, or conviction driving them, given enough time, men fail or refuse to comply. We have recent examples of how fragile a thing the notion of compliance is, where people just got fed up and said no more.

God desires obedience, not compliance. No, the two are not interchangeable, and while one can easily be a lifelong endeavor, wherein we walk in obedience for all of our days, the other is situational, having more to do with fear of consequence than love for God.

The Bible tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice. The same can’t be said about compliance. Not only must we be content where God has us, but our obedience must spring from our love for Him and the conviction that comes about only when we are confident we are walking in His will.

The notion that God will save you and use you despite yourself and your refusal to obey Him has no Biblical basis. It’s a fairy tale lukewarm souls tell other lukewarm souls to keep them from realizing that decades later, they’re in the same place they started because they chose not to obey the Word and direction of God.

If God commands you to obey, but you’re busy counting off the reasons you shouldn’t, God’s not going to go hoarse repeating Himself to you or trying to convince you why you’re wrong. If you believe something contrary to the Word of God, you’re wrong. If you believe something contrary to the will of God, you’re wrong. Always, every time, without fail, no matter how good your excuses might be, you’re still wrong.

No one gets an exemption; there is no special dispensation, nor will God allow you to live in rebellion because you’re so useful to His kingdom. These are lies people tell themselves and others to excuse sin in their lives while still maintaining spiritual authority over others. God is not so desperate for servants that He will compromise His righteousness. He is not so desperate for Apostle, Bishop, and Elder Amos to continue clinging to the tenuous authority he has that He is willing to overlook the affairs, divorces, drunkenness, or embezzlement. Elder Amos may be that desperate, but God isn’t!

By the same token, God doesn’t use coercion or trickery to get people saved. Some people do, and that kind of ham-handed come to Jesus, and you’ll ride in a golden chariot to your seaside villa while being fed Concord grapes by unicorns and fairies, never sticks. It’s like buying a timeshare. The brochure was nice and all, but eventually, you realized every room smelled like curry, and the beach view you were promised turned out to be a billboard for Coppertone three miles from the closest sand.

You’re not doing anyone any favors by omitting the reality of trials, tribulations, or suffering for the cause of Christ. If all you’re telling people about is their best lives and how they’re in for a lifetime of binding, loosing, and speaking prosperity into existence if they walk the aisle, there will come a point wherein they will grow disillusioned and feel as though they were misled.

Tell the truth, always. Don’t try to sugarcoat the walk or withhold how prevalent the enemy attacks are. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to have eternal life, Jesus didn’t hold back, though He loved him. His words were direct and clearly articulated: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

The young ruler had asked a question and got an answer. It just wasn’t the answer he was hoping for or one he was willing to consent to. And so, he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions, and although the Word does not expound, we can clearly intuit that his heart was tethered more to his possessions than a desire for eternal life.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.