Upbeat?

Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey his laws
and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. (Psalm 119:1-3)

Would you say you are 'upbeat' about all the steps of obedience God asks you to take in life? If you are anything like the rest of us who serve Jesus, you have your moments when being 'joyful' about a step of obedience God seeks isn't exactly your first response. In fact, your first response may be, "You've got to be kidding!" When he asks us to forgive someone who has hurt us deeply and doesn't really seem to be remorseful, we might respond like that. When he asks us to let go of some habit we have been holding onto forever, we might balk at the request because we know how hard it will be to let go. We don't always respond with an 'upbeat' attitude when obedience is requested, do we?

Joyful are people of integrity - who follow the instructions of the Lord. It could take us more than once to hear we need to take certain steps toward full obedience in our lives, but when we finally 'get there', we find the transition from resistance to repentance seems to be easier than we imagined. Sometimes God is waiting on us to come to the end of our resistance much longer than he'd like, but he is patient with us, isn't he? We toy with the idea of being 'mostly obedient', then wonder why we aren't all that 'joy-filled' with the half-hearted steps we took. It isn't that God isn't pleased with some movement forward, it is that he desires so much more for us, and we know it!

Be perfectly honest with me today - is that step of obedience God is asking you to take actually 'pleasurable'? It could be that we see it as just a bit 'unpleasant', so we resist. I would like to propose that remaining in disobedience can produce a much greater sense of 'displeasure' in our lives. We may not think that at first but given enough time operating in the realm of 'partial obedience', we will soon realize it isn't all that 'good'. God asks us to not compromise with evil. Period. Partial obedience is compromising with evil - maybe not outward forces of evil, but at least our own inward ones! Just sayin!