Everyday Obedience

When I was 15 years old, I went to a missions conference. Having grown up reading story after story of people who had done “great things” for the Lord and His kingdom, I wanted to do the same in some way. By the end of this conference, I set my heart on doing something radical for the Lord—to forsake every part of life as I knew it to go and do something great for Him. While this desire wasn’t evil, it had a few issues because I neglected to see the mundane faithfulness God uses to sanctify His people. In a treasured conversation with my mom, I remember her asking me what obedience to the Lord looked like in the season He had placed me in—and she reminded me that everyday faithfulness is what the Lord requires to prepare us for a life of serving Him, wherever that may be. 

Obedience in the Ordinary

          As seen in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, the master in the story entrusted his servants with good gifts to steward and work toward. The faithful servants took what their master gave them and multiplied it, while the unfaithful servant cited fear of expectation as his excuse for not stewarding his gift well. Many talk about radical living and doing great things for the Lord, but much of this starts with stewarding your immediate responsibilities.  

          Going back to my story, I dreamed about missions while neglecting to evangelize to those around me. Seeing the big picture and setting an end goal is excellent, but actually working towards that goal can be difficult and usually requires cultivating godliness in the mundane. If God places a goal on your heart, figure out what the small steps of stewardship are toward that goal. If you long for marriage one day, steward the resources in your life now by learning to care for your home and studying what godliness in marriage looks like. If God places a desire for missions on your heart, grow in evangelism, start learning a language, and cultivate the disciplines needed for that future goal.  

         Have you ever felt that the weight of the task or goal the Lord has placed on your heart and believed the lie that it’s too hard or too scary or that God’s guidance will be too difficult to follow? Show faithfulness in the mundane instead of allowing fear to crush your desires. Multiply godliness in the small things He gives you to steward. Learn from the faithful servants. Reject lies about God’s “unreasonable” standards and work for His glory.

Obedience as Preparation

          Obedience to the Lord in the mundane forms the soul. The ordinary means the Lord uses to keep you believing in Him and growing in sanctification are also the tools He uses to prepare you for whatever He brings in the future—and ultimately—for heaven.  When you open your Bible, meet with the Lord in prayer, gather with other believers in the church, or take communion, God forms your soul, conforms you to the image of His Son, and prepares you for the work ahead.  

          Athletes training for a race give us a tangible example. If they jump into a marathon without training and try to conquer it in one attempt, they will likely face failure and burnout. Compare that to the athlete who prepares every day, pushing herself further until the marathon. On race day, she shows the endurance she built through preparation.  In the same way, every part of your life—every challenge and responsibility that feels unrelated to your goal—forms your soul to look more like your Savior and prepares you for a life of obedience.

          So, sister, remember that our labor is not in vain. Our ultimate hope is in the resurrected Savior we are united to and becoming more like through the sanctifying work of the Lord as we obey Him. Even if we never meet every earthly goal, obedience to God in the mundane means of grace prepares us for our future hope in heaven.  

          As we learn faithfulness through reading Scripture, praying, gathering with the church, and beholding the Lord in daily life, we prepare for an eternity of beholding Him in the next life. The mundanity of soul formation carries eternal rewards.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us - Romans 5:1-5

As we see in Romans 5, because we have been saved by God, we are now empowered to glory in the sufferings of life with the knowledge that He is forming our character towards an eternal hope that will never fail. Persevere through obedience to God, and remember your future hope as you press on.

Open Surrender

           As you press on in the mundane, remember that God’s plans for you exceed any you might have for yourself. We might envision what our daily life prepares us for, but God often takes our best plans, transforms them, and brings us to places we never imagined.  

Hold your plans with an open hand before the God who sees every act of obedience. Trust that His roadmap for preparation doesn’t run in straight lines, but always works for your good and His glory.  

          When I came back from that missions conference as a 15-year-old, I laid out all my plans and tried to chase my zeal, not realizing that my desire to do great things also revealed my desire to control every detail of my life and orchestrate my life story as I saw fit. The Lord showed me that I must stay faithful in small things and that I couldn’t know my future the way I wanted to. I had to trust Him—daily bringing before Him the desire to serve Him overseas and asking Him for opportunities to grow in that desire. His goodness and plan for my life far surpass any idea of goodness I had as I laid out my plans.

           While I’m still not a missionary overseas, I see the beauty and wisdom in every plan the Lord laid out for me since then. I don’t know the intricacies of my future, but I know the God who does. Because of that, and because of the ultimate hope of heaven, I can work hard, hold my future with an open hand, and obey Him in the ordinary.