In one way or another, we are all obedient to someone or something, whether it is a person or a set of values. As a teen, when I made wrong choses, with the full support and participation of my peers, or course, my mother would say to me “… if they all jumped off a cliff, would you jump right off, too!?!?” (Even typing it causes an internal response – “…of course I wouldn’t – I’m not stupid” – but her point was
always made.) In those moments, I could have chosen to be obedient to what I knew was right or obedient to the peer pressure that seemed to have a greater influence.
Obedience doesn’t become easier as we mature. For example, Jesus clearly tells us to “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s” so we dutifully pay our taxes even though our money goes to support things we find reprehensible, such as abortion, and absolutely idiotic, such as a Zombie apocalypse. So it would seem that somehow we all build into our own patterns of obedience some sort of personal value system against which we measure our level of obedience or willingness to be obedient.
What this also means is that obedience, particularly to God, isn’t simply a discipline and practice, but an ethical dilemma and a choice. When Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane asked in prayer “not as I will, but as You will,” He was making the ultimate statement of obedience. What the man, Jesus, wanted at that moment was not what He knew His Father wanted. It is this attitude of trustful selfsurrender that has been called the “Gethsemane mindset.” The Gethsemane mindset is the renunciation of our own feelings, desires, emotions, ambitions, and even our personal values, for those of God. A true and mature Christian knows from Proverbs 6:16-19 what God says is abhorrent, albeit a general list upon which the rest of scripture expands. So, a Christian inclined to be disobedient should seek to mature themselves to have a Gethsemane mindset. What if Jesus decided, “Hey, my values, attitudes, and actions are more important so, I think I’ll just let this ‘cup’ pass from me.”? Jesus fulfilled His glorious purpose only through obedience to His Father. May we be bold in our willingness to be obedient to God just as Jesus entrusted His own life – even to death on a cross.