~Obedience? Sacrifice?

o·be·di·ence

 [oh-bee-dee-uhns]

noun

1.the state or quality of being obedient.

2.the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance: Military service demands obedience from its members.

3.a sphere of authority or jurisdiction, especially ecclesiastical.

4.Chiefly Ecclesiastical .

a.conformity to a monastic rule or the authority of a religious superior, especially on the part of one who has vowed such conformance.

b.the rule or authority that exacts such conformance.

This past Wednesday in bible study,we discussed the topic of obedience based on our lesson in "Seeking Him" The first question that was asked in this lesson was what do we automatically think of when we think of the word "obedience". Most of our group said it only brought up positive things,except for myself.

I was kind of shocked that it only brought up positive responses from everybody...I also think it has a lot to do with the generation gap between myself and the other members.

My first automatic reaction to the word "obedience" is negative and brings up the thought of having to follow someone's rules regardless of what you think and or feel about anything. Usually the thought of obedience,at least with my generation conjures up ideas of having to be like a puppet and living life with out an identity or more commonly a dog (who has no voice) who has to be obedient.Usually the word "submit" or to be '"submissive" is linked to "obedience"-we ALL know that being submissive is was not at first appealing...Same goes for obedience.

Everyone has to understand that we don't all have the same reaction to certain words or ideas-it's VERY subjective.

sacrifice

sac·ri·fice

 [sak-ruh-fahys]  noun, verb, -ficed, -fic·ing.

noun

1.the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, as in propitiation or homage.

2.the person, animal, or thing so offered.

3.the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

4.the thing so surrendered or devoted.

5.a loss incurred in selling something below its value.

EXPAND

verb (used with object)

7.to make a sacrifice or offering of.

8.to surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else.

9.to dispose of (goods, property, etc.) regardless of profit.

10.Baseball . to cause the advance of (a base runner) by a sacrifice.

One phrase that kept coming up during bible study was "better obedience than sacrifice"...

To be honest,being obedient means you have to sacrifice doing,thinking and saying certain things in order to be obedient...I feel that that phrase isn't a proper one to use today...Once again it is subjective-I do believe that most teens and and those in their early twenties would see giving up a favorite hobby in order to read the bible as a type of sacrifice...Although it should not be one,it still is when you have let yourself become attached to something outside of God.

I understand that obedience is important in order to show God how much love Him and be open for more blessings to pour in...I believe in order to express that idea to others who don't have the same "peachy keen" idea of obedience,we have to understand that everyone has their own unique reaction to certain words and ideas.Even those that agree on a idea don't have the exact same INSTANT reaction....