Trust and Obey: Obedience Is the Opener of Eyes
Christianity today has become a curious thing, like a traveler always looking at the map without ever starting the adventure. It has grown so psychologized, so awash in emotions, and so preoccupied with introspection that one wonders if the faith that turned the world upside down has been traded for a faith designed to help one sit comfortably upon a psychiatrist's couch.
Put simply, many Christians have a hyper-focus on their own spirituality that actually has a paralyzing effect on their lives. In this mindset, it’s not what you do that matters most, nor even what you think, but what you feel, and passivity and emotionalism are seen as the truest expressions of Christianity.
Idolizing Idol Hunting
One of the reasons we are where we are is because the pathological obsession with idol hunting has infected the evangelical world, stemming from figures like Timothy Keller. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Timothy Keller, and his works, like Counterfeit Gods, were very influential in the early years of my spiritual formation. But, as Timothy Keller rightly warns, we can treat a good thing as if it’s an ultimate thing.[1]
Or, to borrow from one of Keller’s own heroes, C. S. Lewis, we have an itch for Encore—meaning we treat a single good as if it were the only good.[2] Instead of embracing the wisdom of Solomon, that there’s a time for everything under the sun (Eccles. 3), including a time for idol hunting, we’ve rejected that balance and become passive.
We’ve made an idol out of idol hunting. And in doing so, we’ve psychologized faith and turned a noble pursuit into a kind of spiritual paralysis by trying to be spiritual perfectionists. We constantly look for facts, for the perfect motive, and are constantly bombarded with doubts about our status before God: Am I really a Christian? Am I worthy? Am I going to church for the right reasons? What are my idols?
Warning Against Overcorrection
Don't get me wrong. God cares about our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 makes that clear: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” And there’s a place for self-examination in the Christian life. Paul himself urged pastors to call their flock to examine themselves (2 Cor. 13:5). So, we shouldn’t overcorrect by never examining ourselves. After all, Jesus tells us to take the log out of our own eyes (Matt. 7:3–5). That implies self-examination.
But there’s a crucial difference between self-examination and what has now become a disease: excessive introspection. An excessive introspection is the need to justify inaction by requiring a pure heart with pure motives before taking action. If we live in this constant state, what we end up with is a path toward spiritual morbidity, passivity, and ultimately depression. And if we get stuck in this cycle, we end up projecting an image to the world that says we are profoundly insecure in our union with the reigning, active, and risen Lord. That’s not the picture of the Christian life that should be on display.
Look to Jesus and Obey to See
So, how then shall we live? I suggest something simple: look to Jesus, and then obey. Robert Murray M'Cheyne says it best: “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.”[3] But I would add: after you look to Christ, get moving. Obey. Dare I say, obey even when you don’t feel like it. Commit to a local church because nothing grows a Christian like showing up, week after week, year after year. In the ordinary rhythms of the church, God forges holiness through the fires of enduring faithfulness. Don’t neglect it (Heb. 10:25).
Modern Christians have a tendency to justify their inactivity, insisting that our hearts and motives must be completely pure before we do anything. But this mindset cripples Christians from doing what is simply good because it’s impossible to fully know if our hearts and motives are pure. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Excessive introspection locks us into a straightjacket of indecision, where perfection becomes the enemy of progress. Jesus addressed this sort of paralysis in the parable of the minas in Luke 19:11–27. The master was far more pleased with courageous, imperfect action than with squeaky-clean inaction.
The truth is that there’s no secret formula. There’s no secret trick to growing in holiness other than looking to Jesus and obeying faithfully. Don’t suspend obedience until you figure things out or the feelings come. You obey even when you don’t feel like it, even when you can’t sense his presence.
And here’s the kicker: that kind of gritty, hands-on-the-plow faithfulness, over time and when the going gets tough, is often precisely what leads to a fresh awareness of God’s presence. As George MacDonald, Lewis’s hero, said, “Obedience is the opener of eyes.”[4] If we stop obeying while we’re trying to figure things out, we won’t figure it out. But when we act in obedience, even without fully understanding or feeling it, our eyes are opened to deeper truths about God and his character.
The precondition for seeing is obeying, and in that obedience, we often find the very presence of God that we thought was distant. Obedience opens our eyes to see just how glorious and satisfying Christ is. As the familiar hymn goes:
When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Pastor Tuezong Xiong
Christ Bible Church
[1] Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters (New York: Penguin Books, 2009) xiv.
[2] C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2017), 35.
[3] Andrew Alexander Bonar, Memoir and Remains of R.M. M’Cheyne (Edinburgh and London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1892), 293.
[4] C. S. Lewis, ed., George MacDonald: An Anthology: 365 Readings (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 33.
