If you love me, you will obey what I command

"If you love me, you will obey what I command (John 14:15).

When there are only two choices.

God can use any number of circumstances to teach us about Himself and about ourselves. Recently when my son was traveling to Budapest alone, I was confronted with the reality that I literally had two choices. I could panic, or I could trust. Being somewhat familiar with panic, I didn't like that option, in fact I hated that option. I would do just about anything to avoid panic. Each time it came to my mind that he was alone navigating strange airports and customs in a foreign country I purposely and intentionally chose to trust God. I was able to go home from JFK airport and sleep. I was comforted by the truth that God is God of the air and God is God in the Budapest airport.
This caused me to think about spiritual applications-as I am prone to do. It occurred to me that as God calls us to obey Him, we have two choices - to obey or to disobey. Why is it, that disobedience is not as distasteful to me as panic? I refused to consider panic, yet I toy with disobedience. It seems to me, if I had a genuine sorrow over sin I would see disobedience as undesirable as panic. If you have ever had an anxiety or panic attack, you know that the first overpowering feeling is the desire to flee. Scripture tells us to flee sin...Flee sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18), flee from idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14), flee these things (1 Timothy 6:11), Flee also youthful lusts (2 Timothy 2:22). When we have a "temptation attack" why isn't our first overpowering feeling to flee? When we toy with temptation, we are making provision for the flesh. Romans 13:14, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."
Since we have only two choices, to obey or disobey, let us choose to cling to obedience because the option of disobedience is as abhorrent to us as it is to Jesus Christ.

Diane