Under Orders?
Rev. Jeff Wood, First Presbyterian Church of Sebastian
WeLoveFirst.org & Facebook.com/welovefirstsebastian
The Christian life is a fight. It is not a lazy dawdle to Beulah Land. Character, courage, love, and all the virtues … we don’t drift into them. We emerge with them after struggle, and repeated struggle. The Bible confirms this talking about spiritual warfare.
The Christian’s relationship with God is best understood as Him as your father. But it isn’t the only way of understanding Him. One important way to understand Him is as your Lord (in our terminology, Commanding Officer would work).
This struggle, and Jesus being Lord, has a serious implication. I have a son who joined the Navy. What he learned, and every military person learns, is that they are no longer civilians. They do not leave the base whenever they want. They do not wear whatever they want. They do not get up whenever they want. When an officer commands my son, if he were a civilian, he could say, “I don’t think so.” But he is not a civilian.
Let me ask you, with respect to God, and the struggle for living free, and with character, and faithfulness, can you see the value of putting yourself under His orders? Most of us are good with giving orders, even to God, and we are less good in taking them, maybe especially from God. He bids us enter His service and, thereby, enter the fullest of life.
Rev. Jeff Wood, First Presbyterian Sebastian, 1405 Louisiana Ave, 32958 (772-589-5656). Facebook.com/welovefirstsebastian and www.welovefirst.org
Recent Comments