When Your Obedience is Costly to Others

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"As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus." (Luke 23:26, New Living Translation)

Jesus was being obedient to the will of God. His obedience cost Simon something.

This time 6 years ago I was beginning one of the great struggle periods of my life. God was inviting me to leave the pastorate after 20 years (17 of them at the same church) and move into a new ministry. Four months of intense prayer and seeking God culminated in my move to Harvest Baptist Association.

One of the most intense parts of this struggle was how this decision would affect the people I love: my family, my church family, my community. The Lord had to convince me that, while my obedience would be costly to them, my disobedience would cost them more.

During that time, I read these words from Oswald Chambers:

“If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything—it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid ... A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him."

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QUESTION: Are you hesitating to move forward in an area of your life because of how it may affect others? Is it something God is leading you to do?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear how you are dealing with this issue.