In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 1:5 (NIV)
The Word and What God Says – Part 1
Obedience is hard to talk about, worse to write about. It has the potential to sound two-dimensional; too black and white. I’m discovering that there is a weird fluidity to obedience. It’s not rigid and stubborn like I used to think.
We think of obedience as being the absence of sin – the presence of perfection. Living up to a standard set by another. And although we like the idea of always making the right choice, doing the right thing and being perfection personified, it’s not humanly possible. We all sin, we all fall short, we all make mistakes, we all get it wrong. Obedience has a deeper layer than ticking boxes on a performance checklist.
And when it comes to “living obediently,” whether it be to the law of the land, our countries, families, or the scriptures… It's much more complex than we would like to admit. Anyone who has studied law, or has spent time talking to people on either side of it, knows that the stories you hear are never cut and dry. There are, in fact, more than two sides to every story. But we are quick to judge right from wrong (which is sometimes necessary and just), sift the chaff from the wheat, separate and divide society into the obedient and the rebellious… but if this is our focus, we miss the point of the kind of “obedient life” the biblical text encourages us to live.
The word obedience in ancient Hebrew is the combination of two words. Akoúo, “to hear” and hypó “beneath”. It creates the word hupakoé (obedience) and literally means, “submission to what is heard.”
Are you listening?
What do you hear? “Do this and don’t do that?” Or do you hear the divine saying something deeper? Speaking into our essence? When God called the world into being with his words, all creation came underneath what it heard… “Let there be light” and there was.
“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1)
Is obedience as black and white as adhering to a list of regulations? Check boxes of behavior? Praising those who tick them all and punishing those who don’t?
Jesus said that obedience to the law comes down to these things: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and… Love your neighbor as yourself.”
To be obedient is to love. It’s not a regulation, but a freedom. And it starts with us understanding that we are worthy of love and that we are loved.
Brené Brown says,
“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection. Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.”
When you live to please people, to check those boxes of perfection no matter what, you are making a heartbreaking choice. When you hide your heart from others, put on a performance of culture, an act of success; when you talk it up, wear a mask, pretend you’re something other than what you are, you are sacrificing the one thing you must never sacrifice: your true self. Created by God for love and to love.
Listen to what God says to you, all around you, and align your life with his declaration of love, light, and life.
Go to Part 2 – Ritual Sacrifice and Its Contradiction »
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