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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Obedience (01/31/05)
Obedience. It has always been such a difficult concept for me. Even as a child, I struggled with why I should have to do something. It wasn’t that I was trying to be difficult, although, I believe my mother may see things a little differently. It was just that for someone else to tell me what to do meant that they were in charge of me, and I didn’t want for anyone to be in charge of me. This wasn’t something that I willfully set out to do. It’s just that somewhere along the line, I felt like I would lose who I was, and what I was, if someone else was in charge of me. It was a constant battle of negotiations as I tried to reason my way out of having to do what I was told.

Even as a teenager, when I met and accepted Christ, I continued to argue even with Him. While I strongly believed in who and what He was, I still reasoned that surely He wouldn’t want me to be less me. Or at least that was the argument that we continually discussed, Him and I.

Then one day, I finally understood what obedience was and what it meant. Our youth group took a field trip to see a play at a local bible school. When we walked in the double doors of the auditorium, I saw this fairly large picture in the lobby area. It was of a man kneeling down beside a big rock. I knew that the picture was of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethseme, the night he was betrayed by Judas.

Something, Someone, seemed to take me by the hand and lead me to stand before the picture. The artist had created a very real visual of the pain that Christ must have been in that night. I saw within his eyes the fear of what lay before him. I saw the tears that sparkled on his face as he lifted heavenward. I saw hands outstretched, begging, beseeching that this should not come to pass. I saw a man of obedience. I saw a man who was who He was because of what He had to do.

Somehow, strangely enough, in the portrait was the man He became as He was obedient to what He had been sent to do. As an unseen hand pulled back the curtain of misunderstanding and long trained reasoning, I realized that obedience did not make me less, it the steps that led me to become what I was meant to be.

I don’t remember what the play was about, but I have never forgotten what the true picture of obedience looked like.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Karen Deikun
02/11/05
It was wonderful to share with you the moment when God, using someone's artistic talent, gave you spiritual sight. May He continue to bless you with insights into His love.
Deborah Bauers
02/13/05
The most compelling part of this story is when you state that you "saw a man who was who he was, because of what he had to do." This ties in so beautifully with you prior assertion that by obeying, you fear you will lose who you are. How profound! By obeying, we become who we are truly meant to be. Thanks!