Obligations

Before we get any further, let me say that I'm not trying to be preachy in this post, just giving my worldview.

...So I guess I am being preachy. But I'm trying not to be overly preachy.

Monday, I posted about Expectations. Today, I'll post about Obligations. From a Christian perspective, I believe that I have a great number of obligations and, at the same time, very few. On the one hand, I am commanded to go and make disciples, to love my neighbor as myself, to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, and mind. That's a lofty order. On the other hand, I am told that I do all things through Christ who strengthens me (One of the verses in the Bible that is most frequently quoted improperly ... Not always taken out of context, but often) and that to be saved, I must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. How do these two prevalent truths of Scripture come together to agreement?

C.J. Mahaney, a brilliant speaker, gave a talk on this topic at the NEXT conference this year, but rather than spending two or three minutes digging up my notes, I'll see what I remember about it. First, let's look at our part. To put it simply, our part is not that big. We're supposed to obey. To serve God. And, most importantly, submit to God. The easiest thing to do is the hardest thing for me, because I want to be the most important person in my life. This may seem intuitive; of course I should want to be in control! I'm responsible, right? (Sometimes?) Unfortunately, we're not talking about being responsible or irresponsible; we're talking about good and evil.

That sounds rather intimidating, doesn't it? But if there is none righteous, no, not one (When something's repeated in the Bible, it's important), then how am I supposed to believe myself to be the one to set the standards for my life? The obvious answer is I'm not. So, who am I supposed to trust in? Again, the answer is apparent. God. He has done His part, He is doing His part, and He will do His part. Going back to Mahaney's talk, it's not as if we're doing our little part, and God is doing His big part; we're doing our part exclusively through God's power, for God's glory. Only in doing this can we find true, eternal joy, because only God can provide goodness. (For a further explanation of why doing things for God's glory is worthwhile, read John Piper's book Desiring God)

So, what is my obligation? To serve God, however He would use me, relying completely on His power. Easy to say, hard to do, but infinitely and eternally worthwhile. And it is a daily, hourly, minute-to-minute and second-to-second struggle, but it is good to know that we are not alone in the struggle. Whatever I do, whether I work, sleep, eat, act, blog, play video games... It can and should all be done through God, for God.

Any questions? Leave me a comment!

Three random thoughts:
1. I did some pen-and-paper role-playing tonight. Er, yesterday, technically. I got to karate chop someone.
2. I'm becoming more and more aware of how eclectic my music tastes are.
3. Me and a friend had a really bad run of matches on Halo 3 earlier. I think we won one out of seven or eight matches. That's why there's tomorrow, though.