{"id":3567,"date":"2013-01-09T22:17:24","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T22:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/?p=3567"},"modified":"2018-07-19T20:01:47","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T20:01:47","slug":"gods-obedient-child-more-musings-for-rebels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2013\/01\/gods-obedient-child-more-musings-for-rebels.html","title":{"rendered":"God’s Obedient Child: More Musings for Rebels"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been stalling on the subject of obedience: <\/em>just the term makes me a bit squeamish, and\u00a0I’m not sure where this discomfort comes from.<\/p>\n

Maybe my squeamishness is the result of having grown up singing in church one too many rounds of that cheesy, old hymn, Trust and Obey<\/em>; maybe it is the outgrowth of having sometimes heard the term thrown around with an almost smug and legalistic pietism that denies the degree to which obedience to God \u00a0requires becoming sullied.<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s because more often than not, authority, be it in our churches, places of work, halls of government, or even our families, seems to be gravely misused, frequently with devastating results. \u00a0(There’s good reason for the bumper sticker that reads, “Question authority,” which you’ll probably catch in my forthcoming book.)<\/p>\n

But I’ve promised to move out of the realm of the abstract into some concrete \u00a0reflections on the nature of obedience to God. \u00a0What follows here is the beginning of my own wrestling with Scripture. \u00a0Maybe you’ll have\u00a0<\/em>some contributions- I hope so! \u00a0This subject is so rich that it could become fodder for a\u00a0whole series of reflections on the nature of obedience to God in our marriages and families, places of work, and with respect to our role as citizens of our nations and the world.<\/p>\n

Here is what I’ve come up with thus far in the way of what obedience to God\u00a0isn’t<\/em>:<\/p>\n