- My boat was made for floating on a lake not sitting in my garage. My grill was made for grilling outside not inside. My mower was made for cutting grass not shredding tree branches. It is not only a waste to use these for purposes other than what they were made for, but it is also dangerous and stupid.
God chose me "for". For what? "For obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood." (1 Peter 1:2) If I do anything other than that - it is a waste and is dangerous and stupid.
But that word "obedience" doesn't sit right with me. What if obeying Jesus leads to something I don't like? What if its not fun? What if its boring? What if I'm not happy obeying Jesus?
That's like my boat saying (if boats could talk), "What if floating on a lake is boring to me? What if I'm not happy floating on a lake?" I know - "That's ridiculous John. A boat would never be bored floating on a lake. That's what it was made for. That's when it is at its best. If it thinks it would be boring to float on a lake and so it would just sit in your garage and never float on a lake, it would never be happy. It would never reach its potential. It would never experience real joy and satisfaction."
The same is true of followers of Christ. You were made "for obedience to Jesus Christ". When you are obeying Christ, you are at your best. Let's say you think obeying Christ would lead to something boring or would take away happiness and so you never obey or you obey only in those areas where you "think" it will be good. You will never be completely happy. You will never reach your potential. You will never experience real joy and satisfaction.
Is obedience scary? Absolutely. Because you don't realize the benefits and satisfaction and fulfillment of obedience until AFTER you have obeyed. You obey FIRST and then the light bulb comes on that says, "This really DOES work!" Obedience, from the side of "before" obedience might even look boring or unfulfilling. But you go ahead and do it (sometimes simply because Jesus said so) - you "obey" and then you look back from the side of "after" obedience - and it clicks. It wasn't boring. In fact, it was the exact opposite.
There's another reason you were chosen by God ... "for sprinkling by his blood". Gross! But when you understand this one, you can't wait to start obeying. This one will rock your world.
That's next time in Pt. 2...
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