Obedience

I have been thinking a lot about obedience lately.  I am surrounded by many a good person, who wants good things and does good things.  Sometimes, I find it is secular people who most look out for their fellow man.  So I was contemplating the questions, "Why am I obedient to Christ's laws?  What makes my obedience different?"

I grew up in a church where much of my obedience stemmed from fear.  As I stated to a friend this weekend, it was fear of both my heavenly and earthly father.  I knew that both loved me and yet I did not want to disappoint so I obeyed.  I wanted people to see me as as righteous and good.  I wanted God to see me as righteous and good. So I stayed away from bad things and tried to do the good, in order to earn acceptance and to appear perfect.

As I matured in my faith I realized that with Jesus it is no longer about me.  It is not my sacrifices that make me right.  It is not my offerings of goodness and pseudorighteousness but His offering of true righteousness.  I no longer need to strive for perfection because I am already made perfect through Christ.  It is not my action's but Christ's that enable me to be accepted and that make me holy.  HE DID IT ALL!!

And yet I still follow the law and disciplines (albeit imperfectly).  I don't follow to make myself righteous.  I follow because I already am righteous.  I don't follow to earn God's favour; I follow to show that I favour God.  I follow, I am disciplined, I sacrifice to remind myself of all that Christ gave up for me, all that he sacrificed to make me holy.  I don't follow rules as an act of desperation but as an act of worship, an act of love for the one that loved me first.

This reminds me of Will and Kate - the duke and duchess of Cambridge.  Before they were married, kate was a commoner.  She had very few rules and protocols to follow.  No amount of curtsying or genuflecting would have made her part of the royal family.  Will fell in love with Kate and made her part of the royal family, gave her a new status of princess and duchess.  Now Kate has rules and protocols to follow to show that she is part of that family.  Even if she slips up and doesn't curtsy at the appropriate time, she is still family.

Likewise, I can do NOTHING to earn God's favour.  But He has decided to make me a part of His family, make me royalty because he loves me.  Now I follow rules and protocols to show myself and those around me that I belong to God.  And none of my slip ups will ever change that.