Monday
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
“Trust and obey.” For over a hundred years those two words have provided a condensed strapline of what it means to follow Jesus. A young convert at a D. L. Moody testimony meeting was unsure what the decision for Jesus would involve. He is quoted as saying, “I am not quite sure-but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey." Those words were later the basis of the hymn we will think about this week in TFTD. Faith and works, belief and practice, trust and obedience. As we trust and obey we are enabled by God’s love and grace, and so our own love and joy in Jesus grows.
Tuesday
When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way;
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Our daily walk is always part of an accompanied journey in which each day the direction we take and the destination we reach are guided by the Lord. Jesus told the disciples, “if you keep my commandments” and “If you abide in me” you will bear much fruit. The glory shed on our way is no more than the joy of obedience and the trust of faith. Discipleship is a shared journey with Jesus, who goes ahead of us. A later NT writer wrote about “looking to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
Wednesday
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh nor a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
There are going to be scary shadows and dark clouds at different times and in different places for all of us on our lives’ journeys. To trust would be unnecessary if there were never challenges, disappointments, anxieties, and losses. Life has its risks and surprises, and we won’t be exempt from troubling doubts and tears of sadness. In every human life there are times when faith comes hard and trust takes great courage and strength, such as only God can give. But in it all, and through it all, there is the promised presence of the Lord. Nothing changes God’s grace towards us and nothing can separate us from God’s love. It is that love, that grace, that Presence that we trust. “He who did not spare his only Son, will he not, with Him, freely give you all things?” (Romans 8.32) That includes the faith to trust, and the grace to obey.
Thursday
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blest if we trust and obey.
The reward, the repayment, for carrying the burdens and sharing the hard times of others is the same as it always is in a relationship of love and trust. Love is strengthened, trust is deepened, and life is made easier for others. All around us there are situations of struggle that we can make easier for folk, things going wrong we can help to redeem, by bearing their burden or sharing their sorrow. To trust and obey Jesus in practical terms is to notice and enter into all those experiences around us where we can make a real difference, being blessed by being a blessing in Jesus’ name.
Friday
But we never can prove the delights of His love,
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favour He shows and the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
We don’t inhabit a culture where sacrifice, selfless service, costly compassion, or time-consuming commitment to loving our neighbour, are thought to be the road to the good life. Following Jesus in trust and obedience is the opposite of a zero-hour contract – it’s a life commitment and a new way of being in the world. Laying all on the altar is an act of reckless risk. Paul describes it like this: “The life I now live in my body, I live by trusting the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2.20) The obedience of faith is lived out in the ordinary routines and daily commitments of our lives, as by God’s grace we give ourselves in love and service to one another, to our neighbour, and so to God.
Saturday
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do; where He sends, we will go,
Never fear, only trust and obey.
There’s a healthy balance here – sitting and walking. Like Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus to listen, learn and love. But also like the disciples walking to Emmaus, listening and learning, before breaking bread and going out into the world to spread the good news. Prayer and action, learning and teaching, listening and proclaiming, serving and being served, loving and being loved – these are the beating rhythms of life that express the faith that trusts, and the love that serves. The rhythms of Christian service are like the diastolic and systolic rhythms of the heart, relaxing and contracting, bringing oxygen and energy to the body. We are in closest fellowship with Jesus when we live in that stabilising rhythm of trust and obedience, both of these energised by the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Sunday
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
So we return to the refrain and those two words that sum up the call of God. To trust is to put our faith in someone, to believe they are trust-worthy. But even then we need God’s help to have faith that risks life itself by entrusting our lives to Christ. Faith isn’t something we have to work up, it’s a work of God in our hearts. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2.8-9) And yet. Faith is also the response of our heart to the call of God, to receive forgiveness, to be made new in Christ by the Spirit of God, and then to follow him in the obedience of faith. “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way…” But what a Way!
Prayer for the Week
Eternal God and Father,
You create us by your power
And redeem us by your love,
Guide and strengthen us by your Spirit;
That we may give ourselves in love and service
To one another, and to you,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Recent Comments