Simple Obedience 5: Practical questions

Here are some questions that we can ask of ourselves to check how we are practicing Simple Obedience. Remember the Great Commandments and Great Commission can be summarized as : Love God, Love People, Make Disciples. But if we unpack the commands themselves from Matthew 22 and Matthew 28 we can examine our own responses to these commands.





LOVE GOD



1. Am I loving God with all my heart? Am I truly "Hearing" the Word of God and allowing it to sink down into the center of my being?



2. Am I loving God with all my soul? Am I truly "Understanding" the Word of God and allowing it to bear fruit in my thinking to the level of understanding what obedience will look like? Is it so deep in me that even persecution or ridicule cannot make me forsake God and His Word?



3. Am I loving god with all my mind? Am I moving from merely understanding to "Obeying" God? (In a conversation with my wife I came to understand that the Mind leads to speaking and acting....actual obedience. Joshua 1:8 illustrates this).



You can see that I am combining the concepts of Simple Obedience with the idea of a "3 Column lifestyle" of which I have written before in this blog...all based on the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4. I think this may be a very helpful way to put Loving God into action!








LOVE PEOPLE



1. Am I loving people as myself Physically? Am I concerned and taking action in relation to the health and provision of people? Does the fact that 4 out of every 7 human beings on earth lives on less than 1500 dollars a year move me to any action?



2. Am I loving people as myself Relationally? Am I concerned and taking action in relation to the emotional health and the family health of others?



3. Am I loving people as myself Spiritually/Eternally? Am I forgiving others as Christ has forgiven me? Am I moved to take action for the salvation and discipling of lost people?



These questions came from the thought that although Jesus told us "how" to love God, perhaps because in our fallen state we would not know how, when it came to loving others he simply says, "as yourselves". So what do I need, what do you need? Physical, Relational and Spiritual/Eternal needs come to mind. I am sure this list is not comprehensive.





MAKE DISCIPLES



1. Am I "Going".....Am I intentionally attempting to make disciples, in my personal relationships, family, community, and world?



2. Am I Making Disciples? Am I looking for persons of peace, developing relationships, and helping people to learn to Discover God's Word?



3. Am I Baptizing new believers? Am I walking in a mentoring relationship with pre-believers as they discover Christ from the Word of God? Am I helping them to connect with believers in the body of Christ and begin a life of obedience?



4. Am I Teaching people to "Obey" Christ's Word? Am I making myself the authority in their lives OR am I presenting myself to them as a fellow disciple/follower of JESUS, and pointing to Scripture as our only authority?


These questions may help us to think in a practical way about the process of Loving God, Loving People and Making Disciples.

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