To Obey or Not To Obey?– That is the Question
	Jer 11:4  The terms are clear. I made them plain to your ancestors when I 
delivered them from Egypt, out of the iron furnace of suffering. "'Obey what I tell you. Do 
exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You'll be mine and I'll 
be yours. 
	So, that's it. All we have to do is do what we've been told and shazzaam! We'll 
have closed on the best deal ever. We will be His, and He will be ours. Sounds pretty 
simple, right? So why has it been such a challenge to comply with this "simple" directive. 
It's sort of like trying to get our children to do all the home chores. You think you've 
made it quite clear and that there's going to be this wonderful warm fuzzy feeling when 
everything has been done exactly as directed. You look forward to being able to just be 
together and do something fun. But, for some reason there are voices other than your own 
that call them to divert their attention from the "clear" directions they've been given. 
Sometimes it seems that maybe those other voices were drowning yours out from the 
start, because there seems to be no recollection that you had ever even spoken to them 
about the chores. So, instead of this nice relationship enhancing moment, there seems to 
be a challenge to your ability to even maintain your cool. Most of all, there seems to be a 
wall of division created where there had been a desire for unity and communion. 
	There is a daily challenge to the necessity of obedience in our relationship with 
the Father. It will only be those that do His will that will be able to actually know Him, 
but there will always be other voices calling out for our attention and focus. The flesh and 
the cares of life will always be persuasive in turning our energies to something other than 
loving the Lord with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves. Even attempting to 
comply with stringent religious laws can itself become a diversion from the real purpose 
of gaining nearness to Jesus. Trying to know and confess all the right scriptures and get 
all our ducks in a row can turn our hearts from the pure desire to just know Him more.
	To this predicament of obeying the Father or not, we have been given a way that 
will never fail in an attitude of worship that places relationship before behavior. Instead 
of having to carry the weight of our unrighteousness, trying in vein to achieve perfection, 
we've been given a Savior that is Immanuel, God with us, a relationship that will bring 
the needed change in our behavior every time we behold His glory. Our behavior, instead 
of being adjusted by our own will, is now adjusted by our awareness of His presence and 
our desire to please Him alone. Worshiping Him in spirit and truth brings total 
compliance to His every directive and we are enabled to live in the wonder of His 
blessing and favor. "We're His, and He is ours".  

3/13/06