Jesus’ ultimate goal is glorifying the Father. Through His obedience, Jesus pursues the glory of God. And in our obedience to following Him the Holy Spirit directs our hearts to our number one purpose … glorifying Christ.
The apostle Paul is a prime example of walking in Christ-glorifying obedience. He learned to be content in everything, and his contentment reveals his confidence in the Father to meet his every need as he followed Christ. He trusted in Christ’s strength along his journey of obedience (Philippians 4:11-13). Paul’s obedience led him to experience a spectrum of circumstances… sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Through Paul’s example we learn the principle of glorifying Jesus in every circumstance.
If Paul’s example isn’t enough to motivate our obedience to Christ, God’s promise in Isaiah 30 reveals a beautiful Truth we can cling to.
“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” – Isaiah 30:18
In this Scripture, we learn that the Father longs to be gracious towards us as we walk through all types of circumstances to bring Jesus glory and honor. When we follow Christ, we can trust the Father to cover us in His presence and abounding grace.
To further encourage us as we follow Christ, we have the perfect model of obedience—Jesus.
His obedience to the Father led Him to the greatest evil in cosmic history… the Calvary cross.
Our sins striped Jesus naked, spat in His face, and held the nails in place as onlookers laughed at Him, exclaiming: "So you are the promised Messiah? Okay, let’s see you come down from the cross. If you can pull this trick off we might consider following you."
In obedience to death, Jesus followed the Father and brought Him the greatest glory. Out of His obedience, our relationship with the Father is restored.
So brothers and sisters, I plead with you to truly follow Christ, walk in obedience, and develop a passion to glorify Him alone… no matter the circumstances.
Remember this is a team fight. We desperately need each other. The race is long, the fight is daily, and the finish is glorious when we view life as Christ and death as gain (Philippians 1:21).