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(Trust and) Obey

February 3, 2025 | Dr. Bill Fowler

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What is it about the word “obey” that makes it so hard to imagine and embrace as a positive experience?

I admit, it does look a little weird with the “ey” ending, and most of us have some history with the word that was less than comfortable. But in the context of following Jesus, it is intended to be like the channel lights along the Texas Gulf Coast that safely guide the wayfarer home through the darkness. To “obey” is the path to an ultimate—though usually not an immediate—haven of rest.

Obedience Severed from Relationship

Perhaps it is the fact that to “obey” is most often proclaimed from the pulpits of our day in the context of conformity to a particular standard of morality or a list of “shoulds” and “should nots.” Such obedience tends to be unhealthy and counter-productive.

Severed from the context of relationship to a loving Father whose plan and purpose for our lives unfolds as we walk with him in trust and obedience, conformity to a code of ethics seems rigid and confining. We may comply, but our heart is not in it. I think that our natural resistance to the word “obey” comes from a misunderstanding of what it is and how it works.

Obedience is NOT forcing oneself to consistently do something that is foreign to our (new) nature in Jesus. Obedience is the path of freedom to becoming all that we were originally created to be. It is learning to act in accordance with a new dynamic living within us (God’s Holy Spirit) which enables us to experience our true identity as image-bearers of the world’s true Lord, Jesus!

What may seem foreign initially (obedience) becomes a way of living, walking in sync with the Spirit, so that the new creation begun in us as at conversion emerges as first fruits of God’s ultimate glory to be revealed in us at the coming of Jesus.

Where Obedience Begins

So how does obedience work? It actually begins somewhere else.

There is a previous step that makes obedience a genuine work of the heart. Healthy obedience is born out of genuine trust in the loving heart of God. The old hymn said, “Trust and obey.” When we seek to obey without first trusting in God for the outcome of that obedience, the act of obedience is hard because it is not guided by the heart.

Perhaps the etymology of the word itself, ὑπακούω (hypakouō, “I obey”), can be helpful. The Greek verb for “I obey” is a compound word. It is the verb for “I hear” combined with a preposition meaning “under.” Literally speaking, to obey means to “hear (or listen) under” a voice being spoken.

True obedience is not simply conformity to a code or standard. It is listening for God’s voice, trusting the Father’s love behind the voice, and then arranging one’s life under that voice in sweet surrender. Approached in this way, obedience is a powerful force for transformation into the image of Jesus. Otherwise, it is just checking off boxes of religious expectations that leave us empty.

Dr. Bill Fowler

Professor Emeritus

As professor emeritus, Dr. Bill Fowler brings a strong and authentic understanding of the power of theology to YTI students as he helps […]

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