So Hard to Believe Because it is So Hard to Obey

While visiting with a friend recently, I was struck again at how important it is that we encourage one another with testimonies of God’s grace at work in our lives and the lives of people around us. As she said at one point during our conversation about biblical peacemaking, “It can, at times, be hard to believe that these peacemaking principles work in real life because it’s so rare to hear of people ACTUALLY persevering in relationship, doing the hard work of listening, discussing, confronting, repenting, confessing, and truly forgiving.” How right she is.

I think this is one of the reasons why I find it particularly distasteful when someone just spews off biblical peacemaking principles with only an inch-or-so depth of understanding of what they really look like in real life:

“First, we glorify God. OK. Great. Got it. Check.

Now you need to confess. Come on. 7A’s. You remember. Just confess.

Confront the other side. Be gentle! You can do it.

And now. POOF! Forgive one another! Alright. You’re reconciled.

NEXT?”

As anyone who has ever BEEN in a conflict knows, and especially as anyone who has ever HELPED someone in a conflict knows, those truths are true. Absolutely. And yes, we are called to obey them. But it is usually hard. Heart-breakingly hard. Discouragingly hard.

Paraphrasing Cap’n Dave in one of our recent work calls on our book project (“Reconciling Church Conflicts”):

“Even after you know the truth, the great battle of the ages is to live consistently with what you believe and profess. Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once noted, ‘It is so difficult to believe because it is so difficult to obey.’ The link between belief and consistent action—obedience—continues to be the significant stumbling block for knowledgeable Christians. We can say that we truly believe something, but if we don’t act consistently with that belief, our actions ultimately undermine our words.”

Loving our enemies. Doing good to people who hate us; or as is sometimes even harder … doing good to people who take us for granted, are never satisfied by even our best efforts, are constantly critical and complain rather than demonstrate gratitude and contentment … this is hard. Unilaterally forgiving (overlooking)? Hard. (If necessary), gently and redemptively confronting? Hard hard hard. Lavishly forgiving, just as in Christ you have been forgiven? Once? Twice? Seven times? Seven times seventy times? Oh, come on. Don’t even get me started on how hard THAT is. All of the catchy principles and mnemonics in the world will never enable us to do THAT.

Only one thing: the perfect obedience of our perfect Savior apportioned to us by faith; our right standing with God, our justification—this provides the foundation for our adoption and God’s continual work of sanctification in our lives. And by His grace, we grow in conformity to Christ—and this means, we learn to ACTUALLY obey.

Oh, it sounds so nice and theological on paper. But now we are called to LIVE IT OUT. May God give us the grace this day to live in line with what we profess and believe. For me specifically? I am praying that I will:

– Keep the image of Christ washing the disciples’ feet at the forefront of my mind so that I remember to serve, serve serve

– Not give in to my grouchy temptations to have a bad attitude (and then try to minimize my grouchiness by using excuses like not feeling well, being physically tired, coming up on “that time of the month”, being relationally exhausted, dreading hitting the road again, etc.)

– Proactively look up (I think worship music will help with that one), take deep breaths (I love fall!), see the sky and trees and colors (really see them!) and remember to DELIGHT in the people around me (not just survive “having” to be around people until I can hide away again) … this is especially true re: little boogery-bear-has-a-bad-cold-Ella-Bella. So sweet! So snuggly! But so exhausting given her heightened need for Momma lovies due to her not feeling well.

How about you? What truths can you BELIEVE today and then OBEY? I am praying for each one of you who has friended me on FaceBook, dropped me an email to let me know you’re going through LTGIR or PMW, or (how fun!) are actually here in Billings in my non-virtual-real-life. 🙂

Hope you have a great day!

Love and blessings,
Tara B.