Day 143: Obedience is the Goal

Today’s Scripture: John 12:27

Central Thought: Leave the results to God.

Have you ever stopped and thought about what a failure Jesus was by worldly standards? In this passage, we find Jesus coming to the end of His ministry on earth, the end of His very life, and people are flocking away from Him. In spite of mighty miracles, He is not winning many new converts, and the ones He is winning are afraid to say so. His followers are intimidated by the crowds that remain. This is not the picture of a successful public relations campaign.

How often we pause in our faithful pursuit of God’s Word to us to ‘sum up” the results we are producing, only to find that the results are slim to nonexistent. We cry out to God, ‘What’s going on? I am doing what I was sure You told me to do. Why are things not working out the way I expected?”

I recently heard an eternal principle of the Christian life: ‘In the Kingdom, success is measured in obedience, not results.” Jesus refers time and again to the fact that He is not acting on His own behalf, but merely obeying what His Father has commanded, speaking what He hears the Father say, doing what He sees the Father doing. He understood this principle and lived it out for us.

If you do not see the fruit you were expecting from your obedience, take heart by observing the example of the Savior. His obedience led, initially, to the scattering of His followers and His own demise. Only God knew what the results would eventually be. Continue in obedience and leave the results to God.

Devotional Prayer: Lord God and Master, Your Word tells us that one plants, another waters, but You provide the increase. Help us to remain faithful to Your Word, humbly obeying what we are called to do. Help us to release the results to Your authority, Your timing, Your glory.

Today’s Bible Reading: 2 Samuel 1:1-2:11; John 12:20-50; Psalm 118:19-29; Proverbs 15:27-28