Disobedient

“For we also were once foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”  Titus 3:3

Disobedient – What is the essential characteristic of disobedience?  Did you say, “Not keeping the rules” or something like that?  Did you think that disobedience is really about behavior?  You might be surprised to see the Greek view.  The word that Paul uses for disobedience is apeithes.  It means, “unwilling to be persuaded” (literally “not affected by words or motives”).  Disobedience begins in the mind, not in behavior. 

Yesterday I stopped for a hamburger.  Outside the store was a little boy about four or five, crying loudly next to his mother.  As I went by, I said, “How are you doing?” trying to cheer him up.  His mother responded, “He’s having a bad attitude.”  No wonder he was upset.  You can enforce compliance, but you cannot enforce attitude.  You can only punish attitude. Disobedience is a great struggle in my life.  Not just for me.  I find myself in conflict with others who are disobedient.  When I observe their behavior, I see that it begins with attitude – a certain frame of mind. 

When I am disobedient, what is it that I refuse to be affected by?  Paul might answer with a quote from Romans.  I refuse two important things.  I refuse to acknowledge God’s authority and I refuse to be thankful.  You can see the relationship if you ask yourself this question:  Would I be unwilling to obey if I started with a mindset of acknowledging God’s authority and being thankful for His goodness?  It would be impossible to resist changing my behavior if my mind started with thanksgiving and humility.  In order to be disobedient, I have to push aside these thoughts.

Much of life focuses on compliance.  That’s what rules attempt to do.  Make you conform.  But we all know the truth.  Unless there is a change in mental outlook, compliance lasts only as long as someone is watching.  God is not interested in compliance.  He is interested in attitude.

What about you?  Is your life filled with acknowledgment of His authority and thanksgiving for His grace?  That fosters godly attitude and a godly attitude never requires compliance.  Compliance is simply the natural result of the right way to think.