{"id":224,"date":"2006-02-07T23:11:00","date_gmt":"2006-02-08T03:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/?p=224"},"modified":"2006-02-07T23:11:00","modified_gmt":"2006-02-08T03:11:00","slug":"obedience-is-the-very-best-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2006\/02\/07\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Obedience is the very BEST way?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

But that’s just not in Scripture.<\/p>\n

No, peitho<\/a> doesn’t mean compliance. At all. It means be open to be persuaded, to hearken, or to listen. It’s the same as honor<\/a> 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<\/em><\/strong> engaged. It’s not immediate, reactionary, or unthinking. Ever<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It always amazes me how often we get this messed up — we who claim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-think"],"yoast_head":"\nObedience is the very BEST way? - A Time To Laugh<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2006\/02\/07\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Camille Lewis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2006\\\/02\\\/07\\\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2006\\\/02\\\/07\\\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Camille Lewis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e93a8c9ec8fb8b926471114158437f82\"},\"headline\":\"Obedience is the very BEST way?\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-02-08T03:11:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2006\\\/02\\\/07\\\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":308,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e93a8c9ec8fb8b926471114158437f82\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Believe\",\"Think\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2006\\\/02\\\/07\\\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2006\\\/02\\\/07\\\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2006\\\/02\\\/07\\\/obedience-is-the-very-best-way\\\/\",\"name\":\"Obedience is the very BEST way? 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