How Obedient Are You?

"There is no try; do or do not."

Yoda was right in this. There is ultimately no such thing as "trying" to do something. We either do it or we don't. The same can be said for obedience to God; either we obey him or we don't.

However, Christians so commonly try to push the line of what they can get away with and still be considered a "good Christian." We dismiss disobedience quickly, justifying ourselves with thoughts such as, "It's not that bad" or "Everyone else is even worse" or "But I'm faithful in all these other areas." Thus we create a sliding scale as to what constitutes a good Christian and a bad one. We make it acceptable to fall short in sin and still be ok both in our own lives and the lives of others.

But God does not see it that way. Jesus said, "Why do you call me Lord, and do not do what I say?" The lordship of Christ demands absolute obedience to him.

Thank God there is forgiveness greater than our sinfulness but our standard should be perfection. With the woman caught in adultery, Jesus did not condemn her. However he did leave her with this zinger: Go and sin no more. May everyone in our church aspire to walk as Christ walked and encourage each other to do the same. Not holiness just for holiness' sake, but for the sake of oneness with God and oneness with each other.