It always amazes me how often we get this messed up — we who claim to take the Bible so seriously. In Scripture, obedience never means “the first time, every time, and with a happy heart.” Never.
New moms think about this a lot. The typical description of obedience is one of blind compliance. Even if the “authority” insists something unreasonable, we’re told, we must “obey.”
But that’s just not in Scripture.
No, peitho doesn’t mean compliance. At all. It means be open to be persuaded, to hearken, or to listen. It’s the same as honor or kabad in the 10 commandments — to make their words heavy. We honor and obey those around us when we give our full attention, open our hearts to be wooed, and make their words heavy to us. That’s slow and careful with our brains fully engaged. It’s not immediate, reactionary, or unthinking. Ever.
Still we re-tell the story of Jonah to make it a story of disobedience. But that’s just not in Scripture. Jonah is a story of compassion — that’s the point that God was making. He wanted Jonah to feel deep pity for the people of Ninevah. Jonah had already been complying for awhile, but God wanted him to be kind. God was patient with Jonah while he figured it out. It wasn’t action God wanted as much as feeling. And there’s no insistence on first-time obedience there. God’s long-suffering and always teaching.
So who are we to demand more than God demands? He reflects, redirects, corrects, and nudges. We’re just sheep, after all. It’s when we think we’re wolves and bark our insistence on compliance and bully those smaller than we are that we forget Whose we really are.
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2 thoughts on “Obedience is the very BEST way?”
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thanks for the reminder. training our girls to obey includes training them to be discerning. our job isn’t to break them down and turn them into little robots, but to mold their wills (which God gave them) and prepare them to be molded by their heavenly father. thanks again. (by the way, i’m a friend of elea.)
Excellent post! This concept of ‘blind obedience’ assumed as ‘truth’ taught by ‘too many’, and ‘believed’ by the many ‘deceived’ by it, is simply a false concept, and a very dangerous ‘twisted truth’. When the meaning of this important word is misunderstood by bad shepherds, bad leaders,mis-guided, abusive parents, someone is ‘always’ going to end up being damaged , left seriously confused, and brainwashed with one of the ‘biggest lies’ false religionisitic unchristian christianity has ever poisoned people’s minds with: ‘That we don’t have any rights” What a lie! When we get saved, we give all our rights to God? Why the H would HE need them? This ‘you have to do whatever I say’, kind of thing…..coming from say, a tyranically angry parent, and later, an overtly tyranically angry shepherd,or, a coverty ‘sneaky-manipulatively intimidating ‘shepherd’ actually ‘sets’ a child up to be abused and molested. Because the child becomes brainwashed, that adults are always right, and , they, as children are ‘always’ wrong. AND MANY ADULTS ACT LIKE ‘CHILDREN’ OBEYING a shepherd as if he ‘was’ their parent. Such children grow up believing the lie that, they ‘have no rights.’ Such children also grow up believing that whatever happens to them,especially that’s bad, they probably deserved it. And look how members of such like minded congregations, seem to blindly agree with that one? It’s this terrible effect on people’s minds being deviously controlled by falsehoods and twisted truths. With the / successor, of the authoritarian parent, and the propogator / perpetuator of the abusive / authoritarian system… so people think and believe that they ‘really’ have to let him tell them,’this ‘you have to do whatever I say and whatever I tell you to do!’ What’s so even more scary about this, is that, such a man in the pulpit is more than likely ‘reading’, from a blind -guide- blindered- vision, of the Bible, and what he’s actually ‘saying’ is mixed and blended with mostly ‘mis’ interpretation of scripture, that’s a combination of UN scriptural teaching ( false teaching ) and even worse than ‘that’ ANTI-scriptural teaching ( which unfortunately can be called demonic.’People have had a habit of calling many people the ‘anti-christ’! What about the ‘spirit of anti-christ’ that opposes and comes against the very words of Christ, and even against Person of Christ Himself? And how can preacher boy even ‘begin’ to respect people in the pews,when using the Bible in whatever blatantly arrogant , willful way he wants to, which shows the man has ‘no’ respect for the Bible at all to begin with? Because he really believes he has a right to ‘do whatever he wants with it.’! So the natural outcome of that sick thinking is, he really believes he has the right to do whatever he wants with the people’s lives! Respect people? C’est impossible! So who is not obeying God? The man in the pulpit, demanding that the people in the pew OBEY him! Hardly! The negative practice of authoritarianism, and authortarian leaders, who are accountable to NO ONE but themselves? That’s why nobody can ‘tell them’ anything! Why they won’t listen to’anyone’.’Authoritarian’ leaders, always intmidate people to follow them by fear and guilt.Unfortuntely this problem begins in the home, the marriage, in childhood and is perpetuated in the churches. This Negative-unchristlike-carnal manner of demanding obedience, is simply NOT obeying God at all, and never will be. Jesus did not leave us with ‘an old boys’ club society’! We let people turn society ‘into one.’ So both genders need to change. And all of us need to stop following bad leaders. Vote with our feet, and walk out of their authoritarian assemblies. And ‘stop’ empowering them in their bad ministries by continuing to follow them. Stop following bad leaders. And expose their sinful practices to the light. There’s nothing humble or obedient in wimpily sweeping these wrong things ‘under the carpets.’ God is going to blow these carpets of ‘excuse making covering’, away anyway. People ned to realize how much good power they actually ‘have’ in their own lives and with their free will! Churches that need to be closed down, cannot possbily remain open, if the tithes and offerings envelopes walk out of their church doors with the people who ‘leave’ them. The people in the pews have a lot more power than they realize. The best way to close these bad places, is to vote with their feet and walk right out of them. Obey God ‘directly’ for their own protection, and go find a better place where they can be fed good food,and brought to true spiritual growth and maturity in a loving , healthy environment. What an important topic! obedience!