WHAT MY OBEDIENCE TO GOD
COSTS OTHER PEOPLE
Luke 23:26 As
they led Christ away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from
the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
If
we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is
where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not
cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a
good deal. If we obey God it will mean that other people’s plans are upset, and
they will gibe us with it, “You call this Christianity?” We can prevent the
suffering: but if we are going to obey God, we must not prevent it; we must let
the cost be paid.
Our
human pride entrenches itself on this point, and we say – I will never accept
anything from anyone. We shall have to, or disobey God. We have no right to
expect to be in any other relation than our Lord Himself was in (see Luke
8:2-3).
Stagnation
in spiritual life comes when we say we will bear the whole thing ourselves. We
cannot. We are so involved in the universal purposes of God that immediately we
obey God, others are affected. Are we going to remain loyal in our obedience to
God and go through the humiliation of refusing to be independent, or are we
going to take the other line and say – I will not cost other people suffering?
We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the
situation, but we shall be a grief to our Lord. Whereas if we obey God, He will
look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience.
We have simply to obey and to leave all consequences with Him.
Beware
of the inclination to dictate to God as to what you will allow to happen if you
obey Him.
My Utmost for His
Highest by Oswald Chambers,
January 11.