You Must, You Should

In the following article I read this morning, I was amazed how the sincerity of a person can appear to be so grace-filled, but in my opinion, without direct revelation from the Father of our spirit, just another form of what we know only too well: performance based approval!

I do not disagree with pretty much anything Hanna (the author) has to say, except for this one stinking fly in the ointment: without a deliberate knowing of the Father’s love, although our actions may be most sincere - with regards to her use of the word ‘must’, isn’t it us trying to get what is already ours, only we are totally blind to it?

Let’s look into this for a moment okay? In the story of the ‘Prodigal Son’, there is a point where knowledge without direct revelation (because of right relationship) is totally not there.

All this time the father’s older son was out in the field. When the day's work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, 'Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.'
"The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, 'Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!'
"His father said, 'Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!'"

It’s interesting how one can be ‘doing all the right things’ and yet working out of fear (submitting to some outward law) rather than simply responding, or being obedient to the Life of God within us.

Never before has there been such a plethora of ways and means to obtain a desired status with God without having to depend upon Him alone for this reality to actually unfold within the core of our being. Heck, I’ve read the newest, hottest books by the latest gurus; I am an avid listener to the most cutting edge pod casters; I even attend the most avant-garde conferences available and somehow there still seems to be this irksome emptiness gnawing its way through my religious performance and into my consciousness. Oh my!

Has anything really changed regarding our Father desiring obedience rather than resorting to sacrifice?
Interestingly it is clearly evident that God’s only begotten son, Jesus, although God in the flesh has this said about him… ‘Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him’.

I love how so many within the body of Christ are learning (experientially) along with our elder brother Jesus Christ, the firstborn of many sons, that His love alone frees us to only do/say that which flows out of an abiding relationship with our Father as His child.
Less and less is there the need to try and impress myself or others with outer appearances and behavior that will merit me a recognized status.

Just as the summer rains and sunshine are the daily staples required to expedite the miracle of that which is hidden beneath the surface of the earth to spring forth into a sensual ecstasy, we too need a catalyst (the source of love) to make that love known to us so that we don’t feel the compulsion to ‘must’ or ‘should’.

Rich