Vulnerable Obedience

It started out as one of those gotta get things done kind of days.  You know the kind of day I'm talking about.  List in hand.  So much to do.  Jump out of bed running kind of day.  So I hurry around and get the kids ready for school and a trip to the store when I hear that voice.  That voice.

Kids are buckled in and I take off down the road.  Not even a mile and I hear it again.  That voice, His voice.  And I know it unmistakably.  At first I just pretend not to hear, then I say no.  But it doesn't go away.  So I give in and pick up the phone, turn the van around and head in the complete opposite direction.  All because He said, "call her."

Obedience.

Truthfully, obedience isn't as hard for me when it is a task.  A check mark on a list.  But when it involves vulnerability, now that's where I have issue.  And that's what He keeps pulling me to.

Vulnerability.

Please, don't confuse vulnerability with weakness.  It is absolutely not.  It is as Merriam Webster defines,

 VULNERABLE

1

:  capable of being physically or emotionally wounded

2

:  open to attack or damage :assailable <vulnerable to criticism>

3

:  liable to increased penalties but entitled to increased bonuses after winning a game in contract bridge

Number 3, there is it.  It is what this is all about, sort of.  It is being open to the possibility of losing it all with the understanding that in the end, you gain it all. I'd like to think it means I possess a certain strength within myself.  However, I know that I do not.  What I do know is, 1 John 4:4 says that as a child of God, the Spirit of God living in me is greater than the spirit that is present in the world.  2 Corinthians 12:10 is a confession that when I am weak, He is my strength.

Strength.



The only way to build strength, through resistance. So, how is He my strength? As I resist living this life for the pleasure or purpose of self, I become less. My wants, desires, dreams.  Less.  And when I become less, He becomes more within me.  More of His wants, desires and dreams. More of Him alive in me.

So this obedience.  This vulnerable obedience.  Well, it isn't about me.  It is simply for me.  For me to draw near to Him, growing more and more like Him all along the way.  It is for His glory and my good.  It is so His strength can be displayed in my flesh, my weakness.

How does less of you and more of Christ look?  In what area is Christ calling for obedience in your life?