ORDINARY
OBEDIENCE IS EXTRAORDINARY
BREAD
17 Learn
to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they
shall be like wool. 19 If you
are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 1:17-20 (NIV)
3 Hear,
O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you
may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised
you. Deuteronomy 6:2-3 (NIV)
22 But
Samuel replied: “Does the Lord
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of
the Lord? To obey is better than
sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV)
2 “I am
about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a
man, 3 and
observe what the Lord your God
requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and
requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all
you do and wherever you go.” 1 Kings
2:2-3 (NIV)
51 Then
he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother
treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor
with God and men. Luke 2:51-52 (NIV)
5 Your
attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a
cross! 9 Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, 10 that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, 11 and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)
23 Jesus
replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
24 He
who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my
own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
John 14:23-24 (NIV)
13 Therefore,
prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the
grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not
conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you
is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)
8 He has
showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to
walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
(NIV)
16 Be
joyful always; 17 pray
continually; 18 give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Though
salvation is not by the works of the law, yet the blessings which are promised
to obedience are not denied to the faithful servants of God. The curses our Lord took away when He was
made a curse for us, but no clause of blessing has been abrogated. We are to note and listen to the revealed
will of the Lord, giving our attention not to portions of it but to ‘all these
words.’ There must be no picking and
choosing but an impartial respect to all that God has commanded. This is the road of blessedness for the
Father and for His children. The Lord’s
blessing is upon His chosen to the third and fourth generation. If they walk uprightly before Him, He will
make all men know that they are a seed which the Lord has blessed.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“Obedience
is God’s love language.” Donna Evans
“Faithfulness rarely
feels heroic; it feels much more like showing up and hanging in. It is a matter
of going to our cell, whatever form that might take, and letting it teach us
what it will. Availing himself (Brother Lawrence) to consistent faithfulness
yielded the blessing of both proficiency and presence—the presence of God—right
there in midst of the monotony of dirty pots and pans.” Margaret Guenther
“Why in the world disdain the small? It’s always the smallest strokes that add up to the greatest masterpieces. Because the thing really is: Do we ever really know which mark we make — that will matter the most? The extraordinary things happen nowhere else but in the everyday and today can always be the beginning: That card you signed and sealed and put in the mail, the way you smiled and nodded to the white-crowned woman bent over the still-green bananas, the way you dug around in the dirt and left that seed or that gift of the knees and that prayer whispered for a stranger or that glass of water you handed to someone and winked because you just knew — You’ve got to remember: we don’t know when and how we are leaving the greatest marks on the world. It all matters. Believe it: Every tremor of kindness might erupt in a miracle on the other side of the world.” Ann Voskamp
“Our significance isn’t found in fame or fortune, but in knowing
that we have been links in God’s chain.
Our faithfulness to Him, even in obscurity, will yield results that can
only be calculated in eternity…..Our only duty in life is to be faithful to all
the work the Lord assigns.” Robert J.
Morgan
“What will you do in these
days of mundane faithfulness?” Martin Luther
“Excellence is doing ordinary things
extraordinarily well.” John W.
Gardner
“Faith,
as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience
to the commandments of Christ.” A.W. Tozer
“A
life well lived is simply a life filled with continual ordinary obedience in
doing the next right thing particularly when no one sees, when no one is
watching. No fireworks go off, no horns
blow, no grand applause from an adoring audience. It is living the one life we have been given
for an audience of the One Who gave it to us, for His pleasure for our good. Being a follower of sweet Jesus will always boil
down to a matter of our faithful ordinary obedience. And will always lead to a
life well lived.” BHY
“Love
for God and obedience to God are so completely involved in each other that any
one of them implies the other too.” F.
F. Bruce
“Every
revelation of God is a demand, and the way to knowledge of God is by obedience.”
William Temple
William Temple
“Habits are to the soul what veins are to the blood. The very course of our life depends on them. Random acts of greatness pale in comparison to habitual acts of faithfulness.” Ann Voskamp
“Sometimes, heroism isn’t very
glamorous.” Kelly
Flanagan
HEART SAVOR
·
God desires my ordinary obedience through
His extraordinary power.
·
Ordinary obedience comes without great
fanfare yet it is priceless.
·
Little steps in obedience culminates in a
great life without regrets.
