It's been a while since I've posted an article on this site. It has occurred to me several times that I should, but I didn't. The reason is simple: I decided to do something else. Granted, sometimes that "something else" was to do nothing at all, but I chose to do it.
In fact, we make a choice like that every time we end a sentence with "but ..."
"I was going to post an article, but ... I wanted to play with the children."
"I was going to post an article, but ... I needed to prepare a sermon."
"I was going to post an article, but ... I needed to mow the lawn."
"I was going to post an article, but ... there was this really good show in the Discovery Channel."
"I was going to post an article, but ... I was sleepy."
"I was going to post an article, but ..."
In every case, the choice to not post an article was a choice to do something else, and in every case I considered the "something else" to be either 1) more important, or 2) more enjoyable. In no instance did I choose something that I thought was both less important and less enjoyable. Who ever does?
That's quite understandable when we talk about things like posting an article to some blog that nobody reads, but what about when we talk about obedience to Scripture?
Peter says that we should be "obedient children" (1 Pet. 1:14). Paul says that he was made an apostle to "to bring about the obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5), that obedience leads to righteousness (Rom. 6:16), that believers have "become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed" (Rom. 6:17), and that our standard is the obedience Christ showed on the cross (Phil. 2:8). Jesus says "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15, also 14:21; 15:10; 15:14).
Following Pastor Hirsch and his teaching from John about the authority of Christ, we know that the obedience we're talking about is based on Jesus' authority in our lives. And what is one of the surest signs that we are rejecting his authority? When we end statements about obedience with "but ..."
"I know what the Bible says, but ..."
"I know Jesus would have me forgive, but ..."
"I know I'm supposed to love that person, but ..."
"I know I should share the gospel, but ..."
Like me not posting an article, when we end spiritual statements with "but ...," what we're really saying is either 1) something is more important than obedience to Christ, or 2) something is more enjoyable than obedience to Christ. What we're really saying is that we know better than Christ what our priorities should be. When we do that we turn the commandments of Christ into the suggestions of Christ, subject to our own judgment, and we claim his authority for our own.
Jesus said, simply and clearly, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
We do what is important to us. If loving Christ is important to us, then we will obey his commands. If obeying Christ's commands is important to us, then we will do it. It might not be easy, but we'll do it.
Otherwise, we'll continue to combine obedience clauses and rationalization clauses into paratactic sentences, presenting the obedience and the rationalization in syntactic, and therefore, conceptual, equality.
I was going to write that last sentence more clearly, but ...
;^)
Press on!
Greg