Perfect obedience is submitting to God’s perfect will

Perfect obedience is submitting to God’s perfect will. I have used the word perfect to emphasise our aspiration for excellence and not to cause anxiety nor lead us into bondage. As humans created by a merciful God we have free will but as follows of Christ we are called to be obedient. God calls us to live righteous and be the salt and light of the earth. God’s expectation of us is that we submit to His good and perfect will. As always our role model is Jesus who despite his anguish at his impending death submitted and said..”yet not my will but yours be done!”

Submitting to God’s will is not easy and there are three areas I currently struggle in. The first one is loving my enemies, the second is praying unceasingly and the third is forgiving and remembering their sins no more. I had difficulty knowing God’s will but when I accepted that all I have to do to find out His will is to read His word, the previously unsurmountable mountain is slowly but surely becoming a very small anthill. Then I had to deliberately make the decision that His word is above all else. Above my intellect, above my desires, my ambitions and my plans. It takes courage to go against one’s flesh, it takes courage to choose God all the time.

Loving one’s enemies

Loving one’s enemies is a lot more difficult than I first thought. I used to think it meant not wishing nor causing them harm. But as Jesus says ‘but love your enemies do good to them which means I should treat them the same way I treat those I call friends. I have come to terms with the fact that I should pray for them, sincerely and not half-heartedly. I should smile at them, I should give them gifts, I should celebrate their wins. Confession I have enemies in varying categories and the overall goal is one day they will all be in the same category, the category called friend.

Praying unceasingly

Pray unceasingly is something I am terrible at. This is exacerbated by my self imposed high standard of praying. I have had to learn to change my rules of prayer to reflect my new understanding. Rule number I approach prayer as a child talking to the parent that loves them. Remove rituals and rules attached to prayer in order to free up more opportunities and spaces of prayer. Do it silently, under my breath, as a song, simply say thank you! Gaze up into the heavens in wonder, in other words turn my worship and pleasure in the simple things into life as a prayer offering or sacrifice. Remove the formality with God simply be.

Forgiving and remembering their sins no more

Lastly I struggle with  forgiving and remembering their sins no more. I find it easier to forgive than to forget. I cling to remembering to justify my behaviour towards the person. Because if I purpose to forget how can I justify treating the person badly. I cling to the memory to remind God of how much I have forgiven. Remember God has a tendency to forget our sins and if your enemy is a believer believe me God has forgotten the sin. And I refuse to forget to hang on to the need to elicit sympathy.  Admittedly I am a work in progress, I am working on submitting to God’s will to achieve perfect obedience.