Luke 23:44-49
The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,
45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
A very big test for us as Christians is obedience. Obey God in spite of our opinion and criteria, obey him even when it means putting our morals, our own shame and even our own life at risk. To obey is to place our life so that God may use it. Obeying is a huge challenge for us. Because it implies detaching ourselves from what we are, to be what the Lord wants to make of us. It implies acting against our own will so that the will of God can be fulfilled.
Romans 12:1-2 says "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
knowing this truth so absolute and recognizing that the will of God is always good and perfect, it makes us a little easier to obey, because we understand that what God does with us will be for our benefit, even if we do not understand.
Jesus gave us a wonderful example of obedience to the end. He himself was obedient to death, and death on a cross, as the apostle Paul said. We must imitate his character, and submit to God in obedience, even when we are scandalized of what we should do or that affects our way of thinking.
Blessings
