Flickers of Light

Obedience is thicker than blood.

This phrase, this flicker of thought, these words. They hold so much meaning.  I read those words of Christ, and my gut wrenched.  'Ew, blood.'  Yeah ok; but what is He saying? I don't get it, so I'm going to take this statement apart.  Piece by piece.  So I read the paragraph.  The end of chapter 12 in the book of Matthew speaks of a moment, a snippet.

"While He was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up.   They were outside trying to get a message to Him.  Someone told Jesus, 'Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak to you.'  Jesus didn't respond directly; but said, 'Who do you think my mother and brothers are?'  He then stretched out His hand toward His disciples.  'Look closely.  These are my mother and brothers.  Obedience is thicker than blood.  The person who obeys my heavenly Father's will is my brother and sister and mother.'" - Matthew 12:46-50

Obviously, it's a big deal, if Christ is willing to 'generalize' and say that His family, His closest and direct blood, are the ones that obey His will and calling.  Where there is family, there is love.  The kind that, as the song says, makes 'my heart turn violently inside of my chest'.  I...we, love Him, because He first loved us, because we are His children.  His family.  We obey Him because we love Him, because He first loved us; which caused the initial love on our part.  And this obedience causes us to love Him more.

Wait, what?  We love Him more...because we serve His word in our ear?  Because we follow His example, we sacrifice, we humble ourselves...we make ourselves the lowliest?  And that causes us to love Him more.  What a paradox.  How does that work?  Again, I want to take this apart.
This system sounds broken, faulty, foolish; at least according to today's 'common sense'.  We're schooled from the moment we leave the womb, each and every one of us, to strive to become better in this world, to get all we can get, even if that means climbing over the lives of others to get higher.  But that's not the way John 3:30 says it works.  "We should become less and less, so that He might become greater and greater."  I don't know about you; but this cycle, it is so absolutely ridiculous by today's standards, it is so out-of-the-ordinary, that it can be nothing short of incredible.  So, if life is about self-gratification over self-sacrifice; then again I ask, how does this 'illogical' cycle work?  Because, simply, it puts us in a position to appreciate His love all that much more.  Because only then can we see just how much He loves us.  How jealous He is for me.  For each one of us.

Ok, so I got side tracked about His love.  Who wouldn't.  Back to the first flicker:  "Obedience is thicker than blood."
So what is this obedience?  In a spontaneous quiet time (the best kind), God shared how Ezekiel shows exactly what kind of obedience Christ demands.

"God's message came to me: 'Son of man, you're living with a bunch of rebellious people.  They have eyes but don't see a thing, they have ears but don't hear a thing.  They're rebels all.  So, son of man, pack up you're exile duffel bags.  Leave in broad daylight with everyone watching and go off as if into exile.  Maybe then they'll understand what's going on, rebels though they are.  You'll take up your baggage while they watch, a bundle of the bare necessities of someone going into exile, and toward evening leave, just like a person going off into exile"..."In full sight of the people, put the bundle on your shoulder and walk out into the night.  Cover your face so you won't have to look at what you'll never see again.  I'm using you as a sign for the family of Israel." - Ezekiel 12:1-6

Woah.  God called Ezekiel to just pack up and peace.  For real?  What if someone came up to me right now and said, 'Hey, yo, get up, get out of here.  Only take the basic stuff you need to survive and go out in front of all your friends, and leave forever. Why? Because God says so.'  I mean seriously?  I feel like I would probably laugh that guy off the street.

But that's just it.  God calls us to obey His word just like that.  *Snap*, obey.  Obedience because it is so worth it.  Because of love.  Love is here, love has been here, and love will never fail; because God is never ending.  So we love Him, obey Him, see more of His love, and our own love for Him expands.  Constantly.  This cycle doesn't stop.  God's love never really 'grows'; but we get to spend our lives growing in our relationship with Him.  Just as I think I've reached the limits of God's love, He's like 'buddy, you ain't even close.'  So, as I'm sitting here writing this at 3AM, my mind continues to try and wrap around how, the more I give up and give in to the will of Christ through sacrifice and selfless service, the more awesome Christ will become.  The more I will love Him.

This is gonna take awhile.