5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
Romans 1: 5,6
The Role of Obedience
Do you ever get done doing a good deed and think, “Huh I don’t feel any holier than I did before” ? Or maybe you reach deep in your pocket on Sunday mornings, but then you think of all the groceries you could’ve bought at Aldi with that Twenty you just dropped in the offering plate. Or how ’bout this one: do you ever feel like you follow every rule in the Bible, but you still wake up in cold sweats wondering if there’s actually a God, or actually a Jesus that died so that you could live forever?
Why is it that obedience doesn’t always bring about peace or joy or faith?
Don’t Get the Direction of causality wrong
Do you have the following diagram in your mind?
OBEDIENCE ———> (Faith + Joy + Peace + Blessings + Awesomeness)
If so, you’re not alone, and I try to live by that silly schematic way too often. But if we’re living in that direction, then we’re getting it all backwards. Look at what Paul says today (and read it aloud five times if you haven’t already ❤ ).
“the obedience that comes from faith”
Look at that, my beautiful friends. Faith doesn’t come from obedience at all; it’s the other way around
FAITH ——> Obedience .
You see, the thing is, if we trust in God, and if we take His word seriously, then we will obey Him, and we will do it gladly. We won’t begrudginly offer money on Sunday mornings; we’ll do it joyfully, because we have faith in His Word, which means that we know everything we have is already His.
If we trust in God and in His son Jesus Christ. If we take Him at his Word (literally), then we will bear all sorts of fruit. And that fruit will manifest itself in your life however you need? Do you need obedience, joy, peace, hope, purpose, love? Have faith.
