The Crossroad of Obedience

“Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.” —Luke 22:42

In every act of obedience there is a crossroad where a decision must be made to go one way or another way. To obey one must to choose to follow one path and leave another—even if there is nothing bad about the path you are on. Peter, James and John had to leave their honest job as fishermen to obey the Lord.

God may call you to do something (e.g. be a missionary) that would require you to leave a good job. There may be nothing wrong about the job you must leave. Perhaps it is the work of a mechanic, a manager, a nurse, or a banker. However, to obey God, you must leave that respectable job to go to a mission field. To chose your job over going to the mission field would be disobedience.

When God called me to go to Vermont to start a church, I was the assistant Pastor at Open Door Baptist Church. God was blessing my ministry there. Everything was going well and I was financially secure. However, to obey God I had to leave a good place to go to a place I did not know and without any financial security. I obeyed God and left Open Door to go to Vermont. By God’s grace there is a Baptist church in Barton, Vermont today.

Obeying God always requires a decision to leave something and cleave to God’s will. That is the choice Jesus made when He choose to come to this sinful planet and be obedient unto death. He left a sinless environment for a sinful environment. He left streets of gold for streets of filth. He left intimate fellowship with His Father to subject Himself to the scorn of wicked men. He left the joyful praises of angels for angry cries of “Crucify Him.”

Remember, obedience always has a price tag. What is it going to cost you to choose to obey God? As we sing that well known hymn, “Have Thine Own Way Lord, Have Thine own Way,” will you let God have HIS WAY in your life?