The topic of Obedience came up earlier in the week, but really, it’s something my husband and I have been discussing for several weeks and longer now. It has nothing to do with the wife being obedient to her husband or children being obedient to their parents (although we wouldn’t mind the second part).
We’ve been really struggling with the idea of being called to take up the Cross.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” ~Luke 9:23
But how do we, as a working family, do this? It isn’t practical to give up all your earthly possessions and go out into the desert to follow the footsteps of Jesus. I can’t imagine what the police would think if he gave up all his clothes like Saint Francis and walked out into the city speaking to animals. I’d get a call to pick him up at the institution.
Jesus Himself was called out of the desert to go into the city and Moses was called down off the mountain to go to the people – to create a City of God on earth ruled by its hallmark of Justice.
My husband, Danté, is a banker for a very large bank. He goes to work every day to make the paycheck to help pay for our home, our food, our insurance, and all of those needs. However, he is constantly torn by the expectations of his position to sometimes sell things in an unethical manner in order to keep his job and his desire to care for his family. Is it ethical to walk away from your financial obligations if your means of meeting those obligations requires you to act in an unethical manner? And what if you feel called to something else? It seems that in this market especially without a college degree, you don’t have many choices. He wants to go back to school, but it doesn’t feel like an option. If we are not acting in our full capacity towards what we feel we are called to, are we truly being the obedient followers we claim to be?
It’s all brought more questions than answers. There is hope for the future that one day we will feel more in line with that path – it’s finding a ladder out of the rut or perhaps some sort of pole vaulting equipment that we chiefly need. How do we continue the work of building the City of God as commanded? How do we connect the world as it is with the world as it should be? How do we become obedient followers in the real world?
I don’t know but we will keep talking and keep listening and hopefully, in God’s time, we will hear the answer.
We’ve been really struggling with the idea of being called to take up the Cross.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” ~Luke 9:23
But how do we, as a working family, do this? It isn’t practical to give up all your earthly possessions and go out into the desert to follow the footsteps of Jesus. I can’t imagine what the police would think if he gave up all his clothes like Saint Francis and walked out into the city speaking to animals. I’d get a call to pick him up at the institution.
Jesus Himself was called out of the desert to go into the city and Moses was called down off the mountain to go to the people – to create a City of God on earth ruled by its hallmark of Justice.
My husband, Danté, is a banker for a very large bank. He goes to work every day to make the paycheck to help pay for our home, our food, our insurance, and all of those needs. However, he is constantly torn by the expectations of his position to sometimes sell things in an unethical manner in order to keep his job and his desire to care for his family. Is it ethical to walk away from your financial obligations if your means of meeting those obligations requires you to act in an unethical manner? And what if you feel called to something else? It seems that in this market especially without a college degree, you don’t have many choices. He wants to go back to school, but it doesn’t feel like an option. If we are not acting in our full capacity towards what we feel we are called to, are we truly being the obedient followers we claim to be?
It’s all brought more questions than answers. There is hope for the future that one day we will feel more in line with that path – it’s finding a ladder out of the rut or perhaps some sort of pole vaulting equipment that we chiefly need. How do we continue the work of building the City of God as commanded? How do we connect the world as it is with the world as it should be? How do we become obedient followers in the real world?
I don’t know but we will keep talking and keep listening and hopefully, in God’s time, we will hear the answer.
.
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Blog carnival on Obedience - be sure to visit Peter Pollock's page to read all the rest!
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I am sorry. Obedience is especially tough when one's family may suffer for it. I will offer prayers for Dante and you.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I too find it easy to give lip serves to obedience, and much harder to do. Obedience is a direction, an orientation, but faith is the life raft I cling to. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteThis world holds such struggles. My hope is that you will be blessed with the answers you are seeking.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI love this post.. the rawness and honesty is awesome.
The questions in your last paragraph are possibly a little harder and more complicated to answer but the questions in the paragraph before that are actually very easy to answer... and you already know the answers. :-)
Thank you for your openness and honesty and for joining in the blog carnival! Great post!
Argh!
ReplyDeleteBeing obedient to God is often simple, but rarely easy. Thanks for your honesty. My dh and I have been in similar circumstances in the past. Praying for you.
Hey! You won my Be Nice Prenatal giveaway! Check out my latest post for info on how to contact me so I can get your address to pass along to Robin @ BeNice.
ReplyDeletehttp://ttcgreen.blogspot.com/2010/02/beniceprenatal-winner.html
Praying for you. Obviously, this is one of the more difficult things for me. But your post was very well written and helpful.
ReplyDelete