OBSTINACY

OBSTINACY:

“Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.”

-Psalm 32:9

In my "youth" I remember demanding answers from God. “Why does (this) have to be so?” Or, “If you are real then show yourself!” The funny thing about the Sovereign LORD of ALL, He is under no compulsion to acquiesce to our juvenile demands. Rather than accommodate our countless flippant and flighty demands, God perfectly addressed our eternal need at the Cross.

Oswald Chambers noted, “God cannot reveal anything to us if we have not His Spirit. An obstinate outlook will effectively prevent/blind you to God’s revelation.”

A great failure of cultural Christians is the belief that once we decide to follow Jesus - the fullness of that relationship has been achieved. This great deception fails at (at least) two points: 1) We can decided to follow Him and still not have His Spirit alive within us, and 2) we remain obstinate.

Has the Spirit of God invaded the battleground of your heart? Is He now LORD over every facet, every dimension, every nook & cranny of your life?

The difference between us and the Thief at the Cross, whom Jesus promised would be with Him, is ABSOLUTE ABANDON. The theif needed no religion, no priest, no ceremony. His obstinacy was transformed by the love of Christ into absolute faith.

Many of us play the part, yet obstinacy rules.

To this the the LORD says, “To obey is better than sacrifice…”

You don’t have to be hanging on a cross to surrender to the Lordship of Christ. You just have to allow Christ to put your “old self” there and allow Him to reign in your heart.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "...Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

Death to self always precedes new life. Obstinacy must die for Christ to live in us.

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

P.S. Today marks the 6,000th pageview for aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com. Thank all of you who read, like, share, and repost! May God continue to bless this ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ our LORD and Redeemer.