Conditional Obedience

Deuteronomy 6:6-9,25 "And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.....For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the Lord our God has given us."

I've found something in my life, and I've coined the phrase, "conditional obedience." Conditional means "subject to, or depending on a condition or conditions; not absolute; made or allowed on certain terms." Obedience means "dutiful or submissive compliance" The two words are kind of a paradox, but unfortunately, I've noticed it in my life lately.

I say I have a desire to be obedient to the Lord, but how often do my words truly match my actions? If our behavior is a true indication of what we believe, then I must take note of and analyze my behavior to get a true read on my beliefs.

I'm not saying I've been horribly disobedient and selfish, although maybe I have?! I guess it depends on the scale to which I am comparing myself. And aren't we called to hold ourselves up to the measuring stick of righteousness, which is Jesus Christ? I guess if that's my standard, I'm doing pretty poorly!

I'm also reading through the book of Luke, and what we see in Luke is a man in Jesus who was FULLY obedient, moving and saying ONLY what the Father God and the Holy Spirit led Him to. So, coming back to conditional obedience...

There are too many "feelings" in my life. Seriously- "I feel tired." "I feel sad." "I feel happy." "I feel depressed." "I feel upset." There are so many things that can happen throughout a day, that the way we align our thoughts must depend on more than conditions and emotions. The older I get, and the more life I experience, the more and more I realize this. I have heard children complain when they are disciplined for disobedience, "but I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that," or "you didn't say it like that." God tells us in His word basically that there are no excuses. It is our responsibility to know the scriptures and it is our duty, our command to follow them precisely.

What I love about this passage in Deuteronomy is that is says to me that God knew how many things were going to compete for our attention and brain-space. (Brain space is what I call the amount of information any one of us can store at a given time. For some it's more, for me it's less- haha!) In our culture, there are SO many things competing for our brain space. But that's why God tells us to make His commands a part of daily conversations. Talk about it in the morning and at night, with our children, our friends, our co-workers. Talk about them at Starbuck's, at Publix, at home or at the neighbor's house. Put them on notecards and carry them in your purse, your car, your pocket. He knows we can't read it or hear it once and retain it. In order to be obedient, we must know the commands.

So, what am I commiting to? First of all: to know the commands of the Lord! No excuses. I must read it, pray it, talk it, live it! And second of all: not to be dictated by my emotions or circumstances when it comes to obeying them. I am asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the areas of conditional obedience, and show me how to get rid of them, once and for all!