John 14:21 "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him."
How far will you go to get something you want?
Back in November, I wrote about my son Jacob, and how he reacted to a pickle that was put on his plate in pre-school. Clearly, pickles are something he detests. But this week, an interesting phenomenon happened. Let me start by saying that trips to McDonalds are a rarity in this house, especially since "Super Size Me" was aired in Amber's Jr High School health class. Nonetheless, McDonalds had some special happy meal toys being advertised: "Young Justice." It was spring break, and we caved. Off to McDonalds we went. To help out Jacob with his quest for Young Justice toys, I ordered a happy meal, Amber ordered one, and of course, Jacob ordered one. Clearly, Amber and I ordered the meal with the intent to give Jacob the toy inside. At first, Jacob assumed our toys were his and started to open them, until I pointed out that they were not his property until we gave them to him.
Amber then got the most devious look on her face. "Jacob, you can have my Batman toy if you eat this pickle. No washing it down with lemonade. Now extra food. Straight pickle."
I ask again, "How far will you go to get something you want?" Jacob has such a history with and disdain for pickles, I never thought he would take Amber up on the deal. Truly, Amber planned on giving him the toy anyway. But those were the ground rules, and Jacob was willing to go pretty far. He stuck with the deal 100%. He ate that pickle, even though he clearly was disgusted. From a parent's point of view, it looked like an episode of Pediatric Fear Factor.
I started to think about what was playing out before my eyes. This child wanted something so badly, he was willing to do about anything to get it. But do we ever want to please God so badly that we're willing to experience a bit of discomfort to make Him happy?
Take a look at Judges 4. In it Deborah the prophetess was leading Israel. She summoned Barak and told him God was commanding him to take ten thousand men and march to Mount Tabor. She then told Barak God was going to hand over the enemy to him. Barak's response to Deborah, "I'll go only if you go with me." There's been a lot of studies on Barak, and we can draw some of our own conclusions, but what I want to focus on is God's command. God didn't say, "I'll hand over your enemies to you if you take Deborah with you." No, it was "Go," without conditions. It was Barak's job to obey. It didn't matter if he was uncomfortable in the position God was calling him to. His job was not to change the game plan. His job was only to do what God told him...completely.
Now look at the verse to memorize for the week, John 14:21. If we know what God commands us to do and we actually do it, then that proves our love for Him. One of the key things here is to actualy contemplate the thought, what is God commanding me to do? Clearly, there are obvious Godly character traits in the Bible that we should exemplify. But what specifically is asking you to do? Is it out of your comfort zone?
Is He asking you to go work with inner city homeless people? Is He telling you to go get uncomfortable on a mission trip? Is He asking you to dig deep in your pockets to help support a friend raising support to go on a mission trip? God doesn't always call us to do things that are easy. If it's easy, what kind of faith would that take?
How far are you willing to go to obey? Are you willing to be uncomfortable, no matter the cost? Will you even eat a pickle?
---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com
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