Obedience is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, societies depend on it for good order, well-being, and basic safety. On the other, as we saw yesterday in discussing the 1994 Rwandan genocide, blind obedience can have devastating consequences.
Mitsuo Fuchida was the commander of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, killing thousands and drawing the Americans into WWII. After the war, bitter and disillusioned, he encountered a story that stopped him cold: a young Christian woman, Peggy Covell, had cared for Japanese POWs with love — even though Japanese soldiers had executed her missionary parents.
She obeyed Christ’s command to love her enemies — a command that Fuchida found utterly incomprehensible. What she did and how she did it shattered him. So he read the Bible. He wrestled with Jesus’ words. And eventually, he gave his life to Christ, spending the rest of his days preaching the gospel — including to his former enemies.
All that, because one obscure young woman, against every human instinct, obeyed Christ’s command – love your enemy. Writes the psalmist …
Psalm 119:93 I will never forget your commands, because through them you gave me new life.
Many consider God’s commands in His Word, the Bible, to be outdated, inconvenient and, at times, utterly incomprehensible. How can you possibly love your enemies?
And yet it’s been demonstrated time and time and time again, that when we hunker down and obey Him against all odds, against what every fibre of our being is screaming at us, a newness of life breaks out and ripples across the waters.
Never forget His commands, because through them He will give you a new life.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
