"If you obey my commands you will remain in my love...I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:10-11).

A few years ago I had a conversation with a friend who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Ken was reflecting on over 15 years of youth ministry and made this sad comment, "The vast majority of parents I interacted with simply wanted me to get their kids to march." As Ken looked back on his ministry experience, he articulated one of the heart-breaking realities of the Christian church--a large number of people seem to see effective Christian ministry as teaching people how to act and look like a Christians (or in the words of my friend, "teaching people how to march").

Is that the extent of the Christian life? Your answer may be, "No, there's a great deal more to the faith than learning how to act properly;" but does your life reflect that? What do the messages your children, co-workers and neighbors hear from you and your church show to be true?

Following Jesus is not like a six-year-old being told to finish all the peas on her plate--it's so much more. Yet sadly we aften grasp at the simple answers and thus rob those around us of the vibrant reality of life in Christ. If we are going to encourage others and ourselves to be obedient, we have to be willing to ask an often frightening question--why?

Why should a 14-year-old boy say no to the buddies who offer him marijuana? Why should an ignored housewife flee the not-so-subtle advances of the equally ignored husband next door? Why should I serve people around me or admit when I'm wrong?

Now I know what some of you are thinking, "We shouldn't ever ask God why." It's true that God doesn't owe us an answer and it's true that often He simply doesn't answer the "why" question. But we don't have to be afraid of asking the question--there's no question, doubt or uncertainty that we can create that will shake God's throne. When it comes to being obedient I believe Jesus has no problem providing answers to these why questions.

First, Jesus claims that He didn't come to cheat us out of life but came, in fact, to offer us a fullness of life that we can't find anywhere else. "...I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (John 10:10). Secondly, He tells us the same thing He told His disciples 2,000 years ago--the more we obey the more we are filled with His joy and the more we have His joy the more OUR joy is made complete. "If you obey my commands you will remain in my love...I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:10-11). If we obey simply because we "ought" to we miss the glorious opportunities that obedience provides. Obedience puts us in tune with how life in this world was intended to be lived. Thus obedience provides us a window into living this life to its fullest and into grasping a joy that everything else in this world fails to compete with.

Obedience to God was never intended to make life miserable; it was intended to give each of our lives a unique vibrancy and joy.

-Danny Orrick

Are you willing to be obedient? It just might bring a depth and joy to your life that you've never seen before.