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.
When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches
itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we
must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of
relationships we have with others should be any different from those the
Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).
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. Will we remain faithful in our
obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to
be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not
cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it
will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our
Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered
the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all
the consequences with Him.
Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.
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