Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” This episode talks about the importance of being obedient to the Lord. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Why Do We Struggle to Obey?
Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
Have you ever had the Lord try to tell you something and you just didn’t seem to be getting it, so you find that the Lord keeps telling you over and over again? It has happened to me numerous times so I thought I would tell you about this recent one. That way if you notice the same thing happening to you, you will recognize that it is probably the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention and maybe you will pay attention sooner. Even though this has happened to me before, it still took several weeks before I realized the message. Let me try to explain.
I had been feeling like the Holy Spirit was wanting me to fast, but I just wasn’t clear on how often, what to fast from, how long to fast, or anything like that. I am someone that does pretty well with following directions. If I am told what to do I usually listen. However, when it is not specific and there is room for interpretation, or I am left with too many choices, then I tend not to do anything. I think of all the different ways I could fast, but then I never actually do anything because I can’t make up my mind. This is where I was at with fasting. I had felt like the Holy Spirit was convicting me that I wasn’t really showing much self discipline lately when it comes to food. Then by not deciding on a way to fast, I felt like I wasn’t being obedient to the Holy Spirit, who I felt was wanting me to add fasting into my life in some way.
Next, Tony and I have been going to a 7 AM mass on many Sunday Mornings. If I get up early enough to have a cup of tea then I am getting up really early as we need to leave the house by 6:30. Tony usually asks if I want to take a cup of tea in the car. I know that we are not supposed to eat at least an hour before communion. Actually it may be an hour before mass, I am not sure and I haven’t checked it out, partly because I don’t want to find out that I have to go a whole hour before mass without eating or drinking. I usually say yes to the cup of tea, but then just drink it on my way home after mass. However, sometimes I tell myself that it is ok if I drink the tea before mass. It’s just tea, it’s not like I am eating a big breakfast or something. Does God really care about a cup of tea? I feel the Holy Spirit has been convicting me to be more obedient with that rules also.
A few weeks later I was listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, if you are not listening to this, you are truly missing out on so much good insight into the Bible, and Father Mike said something about not going to communion if you have sinned. I don’t remember what exactly he said, but what I felt the Holy Spirit convicted me of is that I shouldn’t be going to communion if I have missed mass and I haven’t gone to confession about it. Now, this is not news to me. I know this, and yet I had been going to communion anyway. Most weeks I didn’t even think about. It is not as if I purposely thought about missing mass and then decided to go to communion. However, once I heard Father Mike say whatever he said, the Holy Spirit convicted me that I couldn’t go until I went to confession. Of course, I didn’t just obey, I had to argue a bit. It’s really not that big of a rule. It’s not like I committed some big sin. I am sure God won’t mind. I really don’t want to miss out on communion. I really want to go to communion. I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying, “just because you want to doesn’t mean you can. If you wanted to go to communion so badly you should have gone to mass, or gone to confession.” Now, these may not have been the Holy Spirit’s exact words, but this is the conviction that I got when I was sitting there in mass.
I am sure there were other ways God tried to tell me as well. However, this morning was the final message where I understood what I feel God has been trying to tell me over the last few months. The priest’s homily was about the verse above, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” He talked about the commandment to honor your mother and father. The priest mentioned that this commandment is not exclusively about your mother and father, it also extends to all of those in authority. It also mentions this in the examine of conscience. Some of the questions they ask on the Examine of Conscience for this commandment are:
Have I disobeyed the lawful demands of my superiors, teachers, or employer?
Have I disobeyed, insulted, or shown disrespect to my parents or legitimate superiors?
Many of us may think if we are nice and respectful to our parents, we are complying with this commandment. However, even if we are great with our parents, if we don’t obey all those in a place of legitimate authority, then we are not completing this commandment. This is something that our country seems to be really struggling with right now. We don’t like what one leader, or another says and so we feel we don’t have to listen. We live in America, we have all these freedoms and we sometimes take that to the extreme. We think because we are free that we can do whatever we want, and that is not what freedom actually is. I don’t want to get anyone all worked about talking about political things, and I that is not what I am talking about today. I mention the fact that we need to be obedient to those in authority to say that the Holy Spirit was telling me I need to be more obedient to Him.
Our priest was talking about what some people call cafeteria Catholics. He was talking about how more and more we are becoming a people of God that pick and choose what we want to believe and what we don’t. We are ok with believing and following the rules that are convenient for us and don’t make us feel uncomfortable. We can go to mass on Sunday, as long as it a time that doesn’t interfere with our football watching, or going to brunch with friends. We can fast for an hour before communion as long as I won’t miss my morning cup of coffee. We are too busy to go to mass and also too busy to go to confession.
The Gospel reading today was Luke 2:41-52, which I talked about on Friday. This is when Jesus stayed behind to talk with the people in the temple when Joseph & Mary started back home. The verse that the priest focused on today is Luke 2:51, “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” Jesus was fully man and fully God and he didn’t need to go with Joseph & Mary and become obedient to them. However, He did. He did this to teach us obedience. The priest was saying in his homily today that he felt like we are forgetting our call to be obedient. He said we are letting our feeling decide our actions. We are doing what we feel like doing, instead of doing what we are told to do. Jesus could have told Mary and Joseph that He no longer needed them. He could have told them He needed to stay where He was and teach in the temple. However, He followed them back home and did what they told Him to do.
How many of us can imitate this obedience? How can we do what God is asking us to do even when we don’t want to? Is there something in your life that you know the Holy Spirit has been trying to convict you about and you haven’t been listening because you didn’t want to? What can you do about that today? For me, it was to go to confession before going to communion again. It is also to make it to mass every week, even if I don’t feel like it. It took several weeks, but thought all these different ways, the Holy Spirit finally got across the message of obedience, and now I can see how it kept popping up in different ways over the last few weeks. I am thankful to the Lord and the Holy Spirit that if we don’t catch on in one way, they try another way, and they don’t give up on us, they just keep sending messages.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to be obedient to you. Guide us in the way you want us to live. Help us to see that your way is better than our way. Lord you set us apart from this world and yet we keep trying to cling to it and live according to its ways instead of according to your ways. Please help us change this Lord. Take away our stubbornness and our unwillingness to obey. We love you Lord, you are amazing. We are so thankful that you love us enough to tell us how to live. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day.