“All obedience issues are worship issues. Therefore, all disobedience issues are truly idolatry issues.”
And…discuss.
Todd
16 thoughts on “Your Thoughts On Another Quote”
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Authentic worship has only one object: God. Anyone or anything else that takes God’s place is idolatry. If we truly worship God, we bow to His sovereignty and completely submit ourselves to Him and His kingdom. Obedience is our heart’s response to His love, not a rule-oriented duty. If we love Him more than we love ourselves, we will obey. Many times we miss genuine worship because we are self-obsessed. Our worship is often tainted by self-love and self-dependence, making worship a ritual rather than a relationship.
“These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.” (Isaiah 29:13 NLT)
Sure steps on my toes, but the only problem with that is I can’t find any untruth in it!
Indeed…
hey Todd.. been a while.. I often find myself confusing obedience with rationalization… like “I’ll be better if I can just be bad this once”… and I know it’s my humanness, and it’s not right… the struggle I know I’ll have til the day God and i have a nice sit down chat, is taking that pause and giving MY wants and desires up for what He wants and desires of me… like right now… it’s really really really hot and I want my third nutty buddy ice cream cone… should I have a third? prolly not… sometimes it’s hard being good..
peace
Jesus said choose this day whom you shall serve. Choose death or choose life. choose life. It is not hard to be good. You choose not to be. Get out of you and get on him! Let us be an example( a light) unto this dark world. I encourage all of us to focus on him! When we focus on Jesus Christ all these other things fade away or become worthless. Philippians 4:13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.
Hey! Wow… I did not know you had a blog. Have always loved your music, but awhile back I was not ready for the message your songs brought. I discovered two cds of yours I bought a few years ago (Grace like Rain and Better Questions) again, and now….God is just speaking so much to me through them…especially when I’m struggling, holding onto a sin that my flesh particularly enjoys.
I can say, through the struggle, that obedience is worship, disobedience is idolatry. I confess I have worshipped my own idols by walking in my sin, and I really, really don’t want to continue….but don’t know how to stop. And I must admit you cannot trust people to help you. Tried that. Only God. He alone must be the object of our worship and our trust, in order for us to obey Him.
Your music has truly caused me to ask better questions of myself…maybe this is something God has brought me back to in order to help me finally be free from this trap…so that I can burn these idols and walk in a life of worshipful obedience again.
Well said! I’ll ponder on that one a bit.
As Bob Dylan said “You’re gonna have to serve somebody”
Slow obedience, is no obedience. Isn’t it great that no matter if I am disobedient HE still loves me. I am a work in progress, being taught by the Master. If I am slow to his teachings it will hurt me, I must learn what HE teaches it is important for my understanding of who HE really is. HE loves me where I am at the moment. HE is my Father.
We love our children no matter what they do, their actions my not be pleasing to us at the time, they must be taught. Oh but when the day comes when they finally get the teaching and they have tried their very best and bring home that A or graduate all that hard work we have put in to get them to that point is so rewarding to us as well as them. We love our children with unconditional love, our children want nothing more than to please us. Our children want to do everything in their power that is possible for us to be proud of them. They work so hard for that little praise we tend to give them. GOD works so hard for that little praise we tend to give HIM.
I don’t think this is false, but I also don’t think it’s helpful. It’s like answering a question about football with a statement about the designated hitter rule: might be true, but probably isn’t helpful.
Here’s what I’m thinking right now:
Worship is our heart’s response to the magnificence of God. Obedience is the deliberate activity of our will to act according to God’s desire or command.
We can will ourselves to do actions that correspond to the “rituals” of worship (assuming an attitude of worship, preferencing worship activity over commerce activity, raising holy hands, etc.), but we cannot will our heart’s response. Only God can transform or inspire a heart.
Maybe a different angle would be to ask ourselves: Am I living (that’s about my will) as if God is magnificent, Jesus is both intelligent and truthful, the world is glorious and God-drenched and safe…that is, as if the world is what it seems when worship grabs me by the heart.
King David was a prime example of someone “a man after Gods own heart” who’s worship to Father God became a bench mark for us all yet disobeyed God in very obvious ways. David’s love of Father and Father’s love of David are unquestionable. David knew the true meaning and value of repentance and the need to have communication with Father regardless of his particular circumstances. (Psalms) David knew that Father wanted complete dependance in Him. Independance, rebellion and disobedience is like saying to Father “I don’t need You” yet Father knows we are prone to an orphan spirit at times and in His patience and grace He waits for our returning to Him so that He can place a ring on our finger and a cloak on our shoulders and throw us a party and say “I will always love you”.
Oh so very true. I just had this conversation recently with someone regarding all the idols in my life. My intention was not to offend but to acknowledge my own truth…confessing one to another. Unfortunately when you allow God’s light to shine on yourself those close to you get “enlightened” by God’s love as well. Anything/one that comes before God is an idol. The ultimate disobedience. Hence his forgiveness is unending and my need for Him grows greater everyday as I see the idolatry at every turn of my life.
I think disobedience may have to do with trust, well really, dis or mistrust. We don’t believe that God knows best or has our best interests at heart when we disobey Him. We have either decided that we know best or better…isnt that rebellion?
To me, worship is lining my self up (agreeing) with the Truth.
Mercy triumphs over judgment. Praise God!
disobedience = evidence that we love ourselves more than we love God.
I agree. It is one of those statements that begs the question: What does this reveal about God’s character? (A part of heart-felt worship being the desire to know Him more completely)
In my heart He lets me know when I am distracted and am not quite on target – in this way He helps me not to make the mistake Peter did saying “I will never betray You!” It keeps me in a learning position, which is humble. Through the heartache of knowing I will never be a deserving child, it illuminates Him even more as an unprompted Provider.
I agree with Elane – I find it true, but also more of a spiritual gut-check since the statement in itself doesn’t point to a solution.
We can spends our whole lives looking inside to find the things that get in the way of adoring Him, but that defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?
I just want to Thank God, that it’s by grace through faith and not by works!!!
That even when I stumble, he’s there to pick me up.
He knows me better than I know myself and with all my faults,.. he loves me.
Thank you Lord Jesus!