As if… somehow, in my 8 years of infinite wisdom, I could know more than her.
Ashtyn, at age 7, hassles me over things like, “But this DOES match.”
Or “I DID brush my teeth.”
And “I don’t need to go to bed! I’m not tired. I promise!”
With parents and children, we see and agree with the established relationship of who should obey whom.
But it doesn’t stop us as kids, or our kids from trying to get our of listening and obeying to those we should.
I wonder… is that the reason we don’t listen and obey as adults?
Busted
WHAT?!? Seriously Nicole, are you saying that as adults we are still dealing with the disaster and delay of disobedience? Yep, we are. You, me, my husband, your spouse – all of us.
We park where we shouldn’t, run red lights (with the consoling thought of I think I can make it), leave electronic devices on when the stewardess has told us to turn them off…
Yep – that happened just now.
We are on a ridiculously early flight again, in a hurry to get where we are going, and David is reading the newspapers on his Kindle. The “turn off electronic devices” statement was said. He put it away – for about 2 minutes – and then pulled it out and started showing me what he was just reading.
To which I promptly laughed out loud and responded, “You are sooooo making my blog!”
He laughed back and said, “I am so busted!”
He knew what I was writing about.
Don’t Get Caught
He had one eye on his Kindle, one on the stewardess. I told him, ‘You can’t even fully enjoy disobedience. You have one eye on trying not to get caught the whole time. We laughed again…..then he put it away. LOL
The beauty of being the blogger is that I can tell on him today and leave myself out of it! We will save my stupidity for another day. There is plenty of it to talk about next week and the week after.
And so with disobedience – we can’t even fully enjoy it and we do it anyway. We know we might get caught, and that doesn’t stop us. There are likely consequences for not being obedient – a reprimand, loss of credibility, or even worse – and we STILL do it.
What’s Up?
We incorrectly measure the consequences of the disobedience and therefore justify it. Not realizing that we are operating in a pattern that loosens the integrity of our life.
Life is like a pickle jar. It’s hard to break that integrity seal the first time. But once we give it to our spouse, pound on it with a knife, bang it on the counter and finally get it to open – it opens SO much easier every time after that. One finger may even open the jar after that.
That is why the Bible says:
To obey is better than sacrifice.
— 1 Samuel 15:22 NIV
God’s not impressed with the sacrifice it takes to clean up disobedience. Like our parents, our boss and others in authority, He much prefers obedience.
Obedience is Cheap
The clean up… the time it takes to restore trust, credibility and honor… the ground we have to retake in our own lives to come back to the place where we were before we disobeyed…
Sacrifice costs us so much more than disobedience. And little disobedience paves the way for big disobedience. Ouch.
I don’t know if this is tap dancing on your soul like it is mine, but my toes just got stepped all over.
As the announcement comes over the intercom to turn off my electrical device at this time, I believe I will comply. I’m going to be obedient this time. And keep trying…
14 comments
Wow…this has the wheels spinning in my head…I really never thought how often I, myself is disobedient to just the little things…and how the little things can become big things. I think if we all are honest with ourselves, this message could teach us. And oh, how our lives would be better!
And so with disobedience – we can’t even fully enjoy it and we do it anyway. We know we might get caught, and that doesn’t stop us. So much truth in two small sentences.
We often tell “little white lies” because we are afraid of how the person will react to the truth. Or we lie to our selves… I wasn’t speeding I was keeping with the flow of traffic…
I too often am guilty of trying to justify these little disobediences saying that is it concidered acceptable because “Times have changed”
You have inspired me to hold myself to a higher standard and work on being more obedient in these areas of my life. Thank you.
Amy
How come little lies are ‘white’ and the big ones aren’t black?
Great post Pastor Nicole. I am thinking of several areas where I could be more obedient. I am going to obey!
This blog was so good. Thank you Nicole Crank.
OUCH, OUCH and…….OUCH!! God has been dealing with me about this for weeks….and I know His voice and I’m still in the “I’ll start that tomorrow” mentality. And I keep hearing what Pastor David always says, and another friend of mine as well, “It’s the little foxes that spoil the vine”. With me it’s little things like “don’t eat that – eat that” (I’ve asked for Him to help me lose weight), or “you’re falling into a pattern of laziness. Make a schedule for each day and stick to it.” I made the schedule but now I look at it and think, “yep – I’ll start tomorrow.” Meanwhile each day goes by and I’m still sitting in my living room, watching the tube, accomplishing nothing! I feel myself falling and still I do it. And I know that pretty soon, if I don’t start listening to the Voice that I know so well, it will be a major deal to get back even to where I was – which still needed improvement! So your blog post was really, really, timely. God speaking to me one more time, through you. Thanks Pastor Nicole. He uses our brothers and sisters sometimes – as well as our Pastors – to confirm His Word to us. I start TODAY!! Thanks again for sharing………love your blog!
You have such great feedback!
Great insight! Thanks for the tap dance….or may be more like stomp!!!
Needed this reminder.
Pastor Nicole once again a life changing word and thank you for your obedience to share this with us…LOVE YA..
You make me smile <3
Sometimes obedience involves ones obligation to one self. Being agreeable to ‘love thy neighbor as thy self”. “Thy Self”. What about the times we allow others to over step their boundaries with us. Obedience . Interesting word ! If the world was more obedient to God’s word wouldn’t it be wonderful? Thanks Pastor Nicole.
Dear Pastor Nicole,
Thanks so much for this teaching! We are all sooooo busted. This is such a huge truth! It helped me tremendously!
Love you,
Mireya
It was much more fun busting David than it is busting myself! Just being honest! However, on the way home ‘somebody’ didn’t turn their phone off until the stewardess came by. PS – I was traveling alone 🙂
Pastor Nicole,
Thank you for this teaching… I myself have had to struggle to even attempt to restore the trust, credibility and honor lost because of my disobedience… I love how well written your blog is – “the ground we have to retake in our own lives to come back to the place where we were before we disobeyed”… I know that God has forgiven me and I know I am on the right path… sometimes family are not as forgiving and the path seems so long…
How I wish… I would have NOT incorrectly measured the consequences of the disobedience and therefore justified it ~ and disobeyed even though I knew I was wrong…
Each day I have to make a conscience effort to keep moving forward and try very hard to NOT look back… I can’t change the past now, but I am trying very hard to make sure that I stay focused on the future – what God has for me TODAY – and I see God’s blessings each day when I keep my mind focused on HIM!
Thank you for your caring and encouraging spirit!