O Man, Part Two

... I believe the day I stopped reaching my spiritual potential was the day I accepted partial obedience as the norm.

Somewhere along the way in my spiritual walk, I got confused. I began to elevate knowledge over obedience. Spiritual maturity was displayed in facts recalled, not commands obeyed. Early in my Christian days, I knew very little and obeyed most of what I knew. Now, I know a lot, but obey only a fraction of what I know? Is this experience common? Can you see it happening in your life? What is better, to know one hundred things and only obey ten of them, or to know ten things and obey nine out of ten? I think I would rather be the latter fellow, but introspection tells me I am more like the first guy. Oh, but I want a change. How wonderful it would be to have knowledge with complete obedience.

I think knowledge with complete obedience is what we all shoot for to begin with. I am not sure what cases us to compromise and settle for partial obedience instead. Maybe it is because we look around and partial obedience is widely accepted. Maybe it is because we know that we cannot be perfect, so why not lean as heavily as we can upon grace? Maybe it is a slow numbing that we don't notice until we have moved far, far off the path we wanted to travel. Maybe it is a combination of all of these things and more? Like I said, I'm not sure.

So how do I (or we if you'll join me) get back to that place where full obedience is a natural way of life? It may require something radical. Or maybe not.