What My Obedinece . . . .
COSTS OTHER PEOPLE
“As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon . . . , and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus” (Luke 23:26).
I
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f we obey God,
it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the
pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us
anything—it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does
cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are
upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We
could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the
cost be paid.
When our obedience begins to cost
others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept
anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think
that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from
those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).
A lack of progress in our spiritual
life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we
cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are
immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our
obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be
independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other
people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate
relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God,
He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We
must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.
Beware of the inclination to dictate
to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to
Him.
MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
OSWALD CHAMBERS
Edited by James Reimann
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