Continuing our meditation on “What I want is NOT all that matters,” I shared the Lady Mary story with my friend Josh who is with a nonprofit that ministers to youth leaders. His question was, “How would you describe the theology of that attitude? Maybe, a theology of suffering?” Thinking of the conversation I’d just had with the pastor in yesterday’s blog, I replied, “A theology of obedience.”

In addition to John 14.15, which we cited yesterday, this passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans expresses well what our attitudes should be:

And do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Therefore…

• let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and
• put on the armor of light.
• Let us walk properly as in the day,
  • not in carousing and drunkenness,
  • not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality,
  • not in strife and jealousy.
• But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
• make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13.11 – 14, LSB, bulleted for clarity)

These are clear commands, and they are things that can be done! Obedience. I suggested he tell the kids, “Repeat after me…

‘What I want is NOT all that matters!'”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3.6, ESV)