A Long Obedience

I have learned over the years that we as Christians are not always highly motivated to do the right thing, so I try occasionally to help in this regard by providing proper motivation for fulfilling obedience. It is why I preached on the subject Good Reasons to Obey God this past Sunday. I hope you listened carefully and responded prayerfully to this challenging message.

Now I want to add one more thought to it: The life of faith requires a long obedience in the right direction.

In Hebrews 11, the writer lists an honor roll of men and women of faith who proved their faith by their obedience. Then the writer challenges us by these words:
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith…consider Him…so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3).

So we are encouraged to live out our faith through obedience all the way to the finish line of our life, and to do so by keeping our focus daily on the Finisher of our faith. This kind of faith calls for a long obedience in the right direction. It is not a momentary decision, but a lifetime of commitment! This requires us to keep our eyes on Jesus daily for the rest of our life.

A farmer was teaching his son to plow. He said, “Son, I’m going in the house for a while so I’m leaving it with you. Make sure you plow a straight row.” The son asked, “But how?” His father said, “See that cow resting at the end of the field—just plow straight to him. You’ll have a straight row.”

When the father came out later, the boy had furrowed this way and that way, all over that field. The father said, “Son, what happened?” The boy answered, “Dad, you said to plow to the cow—well, the cow got up and kept moving all over the field. But I kept my eyes on him and followed him.”

In your life, be careful what you keep your eyes on to follow. Your focus will usually determine the path you take. That is why you must keep your eyes daily on Jesus and follow Him…across your finish line!

Remember this: You cannot run this race of faith without Him; you cannot help but win in life if you keep your eyes on Him. Now…Run to Victory!

Devotedly yours,
Pastor Ron