Obedience opens my ears.
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross.” Philippians 2:8
If we are to be followers of Christ; if we are to represent Him here; if we are to follow in His footsteps… then we must be obedient. The above verse sums up the core of what allowed Him to accomplish what He was sent here to do. It shows us the key to the ever-faithful phrase “Thy will be done.” Obedience.
Obedience is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “a sphere of jurisdiction.” One of the definitions of jurisdiction is “the limits or territory within which authority may be exercised.” But before we look more deeply into that aspect of the term let us also consider another facet of “obedience,” that of hypēkoos : the Greek that is used for “obedient” in Phil 2:8. It can be translated as “Giving ear, obedient.”
“Giving ear.” Does that sound a lot like “listening?” It should. And it should answer the question of anyone who asked why “listening”, or some other form of the word, wasn’t on the list of possessions. Quite frankly, listening means nothing if you don’t obey what you have heard. “Giving ear” is much more than just “hearing.” It releases completely the whole idea of being able to hear anyone else. Imagine removing your ear and placing it only in the hand of Christ, but not losing the use of it! His would be the only voice you heard! There would be no distractions. Not even the smallest sound. You would hear only what He desired. Shouldn’t that be our desire? Shouldn’t we long to hear His and only His voice? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to hear that still small voice with which He often speaks if His whisper saw no distance between His lips and our ears?
Lord,
Oh that we would be obedient. Oh that we would release the limits of who we are to You and You alone. Help us to hear only Your voice. We give You our ears! SPEAK! Speak for Thy servant is listening!
Amen
SDG
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