The Obedience of Faith: Why You Measure Up Regardless of Your Performance

Let's talk about obedience. Doesn't that sound fun? I've found it to be true that in almost every institutional church setting, the topic of Christian obedience in one form or another, dominates the landscape. It's peppered throughout sermons to varying degrees (most of the time, overtly), it's written into our church membership contracts (yes, those are contracts), it's presented as the final solution in counseling sessions, it's used as an enforcement tactic when church leaders threaten you with excommunication, it's used as a guilt tactic to get you to confirm to church rules and dogma and to submit to church staff, and it's at the center of most, if not all, discipleship groups and discipleship curriculum. Wow! I think that's the longest sentence I've typed so far in 2021.

In short, we've made a mess of "Christian obedience". Definitions of obedience and to what or to whom we should be giving our allegiance will vary from group to group and denomination to denomination. But rest assured that in almost every definition, Bible verses will be taken out of context and used to prove that you don't measure up, diminishing the work of Christ on your behalf, who has already made you obedient from the heart. Let's talk.