August 10 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

When the Bible says that the Son of God "learned obedience," it does not mean that he had to learn how to obey. Rather, by all his sufferings, he had to learn the full weight of obedience.

This passage in Hebrews likely refers to Christ's agony in the garden of Gethsemane. There he cried and wept and learned the holy and terrible will of God (Luke 22:39-46). Through his suffering, he learned the full meaning of the word obedience.

Then he was "made perfect," which does not mean sinless, for he was already sinless. It means he came to the goal; he reached the aim of his work by rendering full obedience in the most trying circumstances.

Now he has become "the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." The Son's obedience to the Father corresponds to our obedience to the Son. The salvation procured by the obedience of the Redeemer is available to the redeemed who obey.

We must always maintain a proper distance between Christ and our­selves. Christ is our Savior. We are saved because of his obedience, not because of ours. At the same time, we may not imagine that we are so different from Christ that we leave the obedience to him while we continue to be disobedient. You cannot say that you believe in Christ if you refuse to obey him. The Bible knows no faith without obedience.

If someone should come running into a meeting and shout, "Fire, get out!" the only way to show that you believe what he or she says is to obey the command. You believe that there is a fire only when you run to get out. This is how faith and obedience are related as one act of confidence.

We must trust and obey. There's just no other way.

REFLECTIONS

How have you learned to "trust and obey"?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.