If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.

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January 11, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, once again I am a little crossways with Oswald  Chambers on the devotional. I do agree that our obedience will confuse and  baffle others. Sometimes my obedience confuses and baffles me. If his objective  in this devotional was to show that other people may not understand our  commitment to You, because they do not have the Holy Spirit, and access to a  supernatural understanding; I get it. Even as I look back over the last several  years myself, Your leading has taken me where I did not expect to go. However,  I know I am exactly where you want me to be. I have found peace that passes understanding  and while the transformation to obedience may confuse others, they can see the  peace and I get to live it….when I am connected and surrendered.

And God says…” When  you choose to surrender, you choose to give up the right to yourself, and to  that point, self-focus was the motivating and governing part of your life. It  hurts others when they cannot and do not understand your motivation. They may  still be self-focused.  However, when you  surrender yourself and allow Me to live through you, while it may confuse and  cost others, it will also demonstrate the life worth living and the peace that  passes all understanding. Trust Me, and trust Me to handle the response of  others.