Confessions of a Sin Lover: Obedience in Disguise (3/3)
I’ve shared with you some of my secrets to avoiding change. You can hide from sin by pointing out what’s wrong “out there” without ever looking “in me.” You can also hide from sin by being so busy with good things that you ignore God things. Here’s another tree you can hide behind. It might be one of the most effective places of cover you can take. It’s obedience. Yes, obedience. Let me explain.
Total surrender is a little over the top and overrated in my opinion. So a loop hole I’ve found is to obey in part. After all, doesn’t “half in” count for something? Here’s what you do: you focus on the parts of the Bible that are easy to say ‘yes’ to but you choose not to pay much attention to the parts that are harder in nature.
Take for example Romans 10:13, “Call on the name of the Lord and be saved.”. Calling on Jesus’ name is easy. No sweat there. Check. Almost zero energy spent uttering a word. Stay at this verse. Don’t bother turning to Luke 13:3, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” or Luke 3:8, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” You see, actually changing behavior is much more difficult. So, ignore that one. Disregard it. When it comes to loving our neighbors and friends, those passages of God’s Word are more palpable. Follow those. But no so much God’s Word regarding our sexuality and finances and honoring the authority in our lives. So, here’s what you do: obey in part. Solely focus on the passages of Scripture that are less costly and more natural.
Obedience in part holds a lot of benefits:
It frees me from guilt. If I had both feet out, I might feel bad for my lack of commitment. But one foot in relieves me from the thought that I’m abandoning God completely. I can feel good over the fact that I’m getting some things right.
It saves face from other Christians. It’s easy for me to mask in part with in process. Do you know the difference? In process means that I know this is true of God’s Word, and I desire to live up to what God is saying because I trust its goodness and beauty, but I keep falling short. In part is different. It implies a willful disobedience. There’s opposition and resistance to what’s difficult. But to other Christians, they can’t tell what category my life is in because the difference lies in the heart. So Christians are likely to look past my disobedience. I can fool them in a way. As they see me obey God in some aspects of my life, there is less of a risk factor of being called out. In part allows me to keep up the façade.
I get to enjoy both worlds. When sitting on the fence, I get the view to both my left and my right. But choosing a side means I would lose one of those views. Obedience in part lets me taste the pleasures of sin and the pleasures of God. Why sell myself out in one direction?
I admit a lot of the Bible is not in line with this kind of living. Jesus speaks in Revelation about spitting out those who are lukewarm, those neither hot or cold (Revelation 3:15-16). He also speaks about being able to renounce everything to follow him—only those that are totally surrendered can be his disciple (Luke 14:33). But my selective hearing permits me to push those verses aside. Instead, I look to John 3:16, “Whoever believes in him will have eternal life.” Ah, I can do that. I can believe. I’m sure I’ll be fine.
If you’re looking for a Boston church to call him, we’d love for you to visit King’s Hill.