Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. | Romans 16.25-27
We all want to be part of something big; swept up in a movement that connects us to others and makes us feel like we are making a difference in this world. Many of the things in the news, from Black Lives Matter protests to PokemonGO have this in common (not that these two are similar in ANY other way). The reason why we desire this is because we were created for important work (or in the case of Pokemon, the impression of importance), together with community, all to make this world a better place. The problem is that sin marred God’s perfect design for this; the relationship between us and the world, us and others, us and ourselves were all broken when Adam And Eve disobeyed God.
While it is impossible for us to recapture what they had (until Jesus comes again!), we are given a means to all of these things through the act of obedience. Re-establishing the obedience that was inherent in pre-Fall creation, we are able to begin repairing all of these broken relationships. Jesus solves our separation from God, so that we can obediently weave together the fabric of our relationships.
This work is not glamorous; it doesn’t appear big. As you obediently work hard, serve others, and work to conform yourself to God’s will, many will not even notice. It is big work.
As Paul tells us in Romans 16: the whole gospel is aimed to bring about the obedience of faith for the glory of God. All that God proclaimed, Jesus fulfilled and the Spirit manifested…it all leads to OBEDIENCE. It is all given so that we can love and live in the way God intended. The crazy part is: it is through these very small acts of quiet obedience that God does the earth-moving works of redemption.
All of this means that we don’t have to find something big to be part of, we already are. We are connected to the narrative of the world; the great story that God is writing from beginning to end. While our part spans but a few pages, it is what connects the last chapter to the next one…it advances the story. So get up, work hard, love well, fight temptation, press into God, go to bed tired, and wake up tomorrow and do it again. Do not give up on quiet obedience.