"Becoming a Disciple" (Part 3)

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14 NIV).

The second part of the process is walking in obedience to His direction. The first part of the process, hearing from God,” is relatively easy. Walking in obedience to His direction is a little harder walking in obedience to His direction. François Fénelon, who died in 1715, was a French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. In one of his essay he wrote:

It is not the multitude of hard duties; it is not constraint and contention that advance us in our Christian course. On the contrary, it is the yielding of our wills without restriction and without choice, to tread cheerfully every day in the path in which Providence leads us, to seek nothing, to be discouraged by nothing, to seek out duty in the present moment, to trust all else without reserve to the will and power of God.

I have found it much easier to think and pray about what God wants me to do than actually doing it. I fear that many Christians are like that. We gain knowledge; we worship and praise; and we then turn away from what God has designed us to do as if we hadn’t known it at all. Perhaps it is that the task is daunting and overwhelms us with its enormity. Perhaps it is such a small thing that it goes forgotten or procrastinated until it no longer remains in our view. Any reason for being disobedient to walk in His direction is serious.

You may be a bit overwhelmed now. I certainly understand! However, the best advice I have ever heard comes from Oswald Chambers: One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it.

You may be thinking how do I know what God’s direction is? Well, my first response would be, have you asked? If you have, then perhaps you simply didn’t hear the answer well. Being obedient to God’s direction is clearly shown to us in the Scripture. We could spend a great deal of time going through passage in the Gospels like the Sermon on the Mount, or the last instructions of Jesus, but let me summarize it all for you… Love God with all you heart, mind, and soul; and love your neighbor as yourself. That’s God’s direction. That may mean nothing more than a bright smile for those around you. It may mean much more as God calls to you to restoration of broken relationships. God is speaking. Take the first step. The others will follow. Be obedient to His direction.