What is Obedience?

Journal Entry. 19th of August, 2026. Early morning. 3:12 AM

Obedience is a great enigma to me. The concept of one creature's will bowing before the will of another. The will remains free in its exercise, and yet yields itself to another will proceeding from without. It hears, considers, and then either bows, resists, or seeketh some other master whose commands are more agreeable to the flesh.

Yet herein is something which deeply exercises me: in refusing to obey God, the will still obeys. Only that it obeys another master. In every determination of life we obey either ourselves, our fellow-creatures, or God. That which we are ready to call independence is often nothing more than obedience unto our own inclinations; and that which passes among men for worldly wisdom may be but a secret subjection to affirmation of pride, the desire for the praise of men, or or the fear of their judgment. Poor man boasts that he will bow to none, whilst all the while he is bending low before himself.

The great question, therefore, is not whether we shall obey, but to whom we obey. Self, others, or God? And yet, we are accountable only to one.

You will not sit upon the throne in that great day; neither shall those men whose approbation thou hast sought, or whose judgement thou hast feared. God alone shall judge thee. He who made the creature hath an absolute claim upon the creature; and surely we must never imagine that He will receive our reasons for disobeying what He hath plainly commanded, as though some difficulty in our circumstances justifies making void His Word. Every excuse offered against the King's command doth, in effect, makes excuse for another lesser king. Do you dare tell God to allow the flesh, the world, the judgment of men, or your own will to possess for a moment that authority which belongeth unto Him alone? Only a fool permits those who possess no final jurisdiction over him to overrule the One who does.

And thus this strange matter of obedience discovers more of the heart than we suppose, or are ready to accept. Ye are a slave to what occupies your mind. Tell me where your will habitually bends, and I shall tell thee where your heart hath placed its worship. As thou canst not give thy covenant love unto two wives, neither canst thou bow both unto thine own will and unto God's. Ye cannot serve two Masters, for either you will ignore the one and submit to the other, or you will be devoted to one and betray the other (Matthew 6:24). That which thou love above all, and unto which thy will most readily bows, is thy god.