11 January -- What My Obedience to God Costs Other People

Additional Scriptures: Luke 23:26, Luke 8:1-3

Peer pressure ... don't we spend hours and hours lecturing our children about the evils of peer pressure? And we spend as many hours worrying about them maintaining their standards. Today's devotion is about what must be faced when we choose God and obedience to Him.

Sometimes our friends, especially those that don't have the same beliefs as we do, rail on us and our choices. They think we are weird or get frustrated by our choices. And yes, some even turn their backs completely on us. This is actually a price of discipleship. Many will find our choices of obedience to be hard and if we are not careful, we give into the pressure our friends and acquaintances place on us.

But it is more than that ... waiting is the hardest because sometimes discipleship means waiting for the difficult times to pass. After we have been converted and while we are in the light, we feel peace and joy that are indescribable. Those outside our experience do not. Because each individual is different, the pain our obedience causes others can even affect those who are very close, seemingly experiencing the same tests or trials that we do. We have to wait through the pain and frustration.

We cannot give into the desire to "make everything better." The only Person capable of making things right and true and better is God. When we step in to stop the pain and frustration that others might feel, we are telling God that we know better than He does. How dare we!? Further, we stop our own progression because we are no longer obedient.

What obedience in your life has made others bristle and fight back? When have you told God that you could "make everything better?" Resolve to let go now and remember that God's plan IS better.