Daily Affirmations - Day 1- The Cost of Obedience: E'en Though It Be a Cross

This week's Theme: The Cost of Obedience

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Day 1: E'en Though It Be a Cross

A few years ago, in appreciation for a free service I received, I resolved to respond with a gift of appreciation. But when the time came to honor my promise, I no longer had access to the "extra" source I had planned to use. I was faced with "sacrificial", instead of "manageable", and I struggled with the decision.

Recently, I recalled that experience as I contemplated the cost of obedience. How much easier it is to speak beliefs than to live them! How much easier it is to tone down, stand down, back down— rather than to speak up, stand up, show up for the truth and live out the justice, mercy, and humility God requires of us (Micah 6:8)!

Jesus did not shield us from the staggering personal cost of living what we profess: "Whoever wants to be My disciple, must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me (Matthew 16:24). Are we willing to live that sobering message, with its consequences for our day and time?

Will we follow Jesus into the halls of religious power and influence, and echo the message, "Be on your guard against [this] yeast" (Matthew 16:6,12)— this rising, spreading, corrupting influence of blind guides leading the blind into a pit (Matthew 15:14)?

Will we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, choose the authority of God over any religious authority that contradicts His commands, His precepts, His principles, His gospel— with the fearless challenge of Peter and John, "Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges!" (Acts 4:19)?

Will we follow the example of John the Baptist, fearing God more than earthly powers, speaking corrective truth "It is not lawful..." (Matthew 14:3-5)— to wrong, evil, and lawlessness, with courage and boldness?

Will we break our own deafening silence, and speak confidently into the cacophony of horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe [and piper] and all kinds of music... (Daniel 3:15) that summon us to compromise and complicity, idol worship and flattery?

The choices can be tough, the consequences dire. But we are left with the powerful, encouraging record of three Hebrew young men who entrusted their very lives to God:

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).

How about us? Will we lean in, press on, draw nearer, e'en though it be a cross...? Too long have we acted out of manageable. God calls us into serious and sacrificial.

For myself, I can only pray for the faith and the strength, and trust Him for greater courage— especially in light of my struggles with even small choices. Yes, I did finally make the decision to honor my word and give the gift— encouraged by the words of Scripture that show how we honor God when we keep an oath even when it hurts; and not change our mind (Psalm 15: 1, 4).

But... a blazing furnace??

Yet, I think of a promise to fearful disciples through the ages, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

I believe Him. So, I am encouraged to speak into the deafening silence of fear and cowering; of complicity and self-interest; of greed and power; of blindness and deception; of delusion and distortion. I am emboldened to decry wrongs committed under the guise of faith and righteousness and to shout into the darkness:

"THIS IS NOT LAWFUL!! THIS IS NOT RIGHTEOUS! THIS IS NOT HEROIC!"

And I call upon the reminder from Isaiah:

"Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn" (Isaiah 8:20).