Simple Obedience Changes Everything

Following Jesus isn’t complicated—but it will cost you your pride, your control, and your timeline.

In this final episode, we’re bringing the series full circle by returning to the beauty of simple obedience. If you’ve been waiting for another sign, another answer, or another confirmation, perhaps God is inviting you to simply obey what He’s already made clear. Because when you seek Him first, give Him your attention, and surrender your heart, everything else begins to find its proper place.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the High Level Wife Podcast. I'm Chelsea Holm, your hostess, and we do Marriage God's Way here. And we're wrapping up our series here. And today we're going to be focusing on simple obedience and how it changes everything. We can tend to be focused on decorating while God is still building the foundation if we think about a house and how it's built. So I think one of the greatest lies we believe as Christians is that following Jesus is complicated. We think we need another book or a podcast or a Bible study or framework or an answer. But what if we've made complicated what God made beautifully simple? Following Jesus is not easy, but it is simple. The gospel itself is simple. Love God, love people, abide, repent quickly, forgive freely, walk humbly, seek first, obey what he's already said. That's the Christian life. We love to overcomplicate what God simplifies, and we do that. And I truly believe it's because if something is complicated, then we can easily say, Well, I don't get it. So therefore I can't do it. Life is simple. It's not easy, but it's simple. So we overcomplicate what God simplifies. We ask the questions of like which school or which sport or should we move or what's God's will? Meanwhile, God is asking us, Am I first? Do I have your heart? Will you trust me? Will you obey what I've already made clear? So again, it's like decorating a house while the foundation is still being poured. You're picking paint collars over here while God is checking whether the foundation can hold the weight of what's coming, right? The preparation in the wilderness to face and slay the giants to take the territory of the promised land, right? We want the details, but God wants depth. We want the direction, but God wants formation. Deuteronomy 8, God humbled them, tested them and let them hunger. Why? To reveal what was in their hearts, to teach dependence, to teach obedience, not because he was withholding, because he was preparing. So we think about the promised land. We know everyone wants the promised land, but few appreciate the wilderness. But we know, God knew, we didn't know. There were giants waiting, there were cities to take, battles to fight, and God knew what they would face. So he built them before he blessed them. And so maybe God hasn't answered because he's still building. Maybe that delay isn't rejection, maybe it's actually preparation. And maybe he loves you too much to hand you what your character isn't ready to carry. In Matthew 6, we keep going back to this, but it's seek first. It's not because it's a formula, it's because first things first. When your foundation is right, the details stop consuming you. You still make decisions, right? You don't just sit around and just twiddle your thumbs, but you don't make them from fear anymore or hurry or striving. You make them from surrender. Okay, we've already talked about asking the right question or seeking first in attention, worship, and effort, but they all point to one thing, and that's a heart that is fully surrendered to God. The Christian life isn't complicated. It's our flesh that makes it complicated. It's religion that makes it complicated, social media comparison. But Jesus makes it remarkably clear. He gave two words, follow me. Before asking God another circumstantial question this week, ask him instead, what are you building in me? Where am I resisting you? What have you already asked me to obey? And is there something you've clearly said that I'm delaying because I'm waiting for another answer? And then do that. So the goal of the series was never to help you make better decisions. It was to help you become the kind of woman who seeks God first. Because when he has your first attention, everything else finds its proper place. And when your heart is consecrated, everything becomes worship. And when your identity is secure, effort becomes stewardship instead of striving. And when your foundation is Christ, you stop obsessing over decorating the house while he's still pouring the concrete. You trust the builder because he sees what you can't and he knows what's ahead. And he loves you enough to prepare you before he promotes you. Matthew 7, 24 through 25 says that everyone then who hears these words of mine and does not and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Jesus doesn't end with everyone who understands. He ends with everyone who hears and does. That's the invitation. It's not more information or another framework or podcast, it's simple surrendered obedience. Um, and actually, right now, we Zach got an opportunity to do a different position, um, even though we were slotted to move this this upcoming year. Um, and so we had some decisions that we needed to make. And, you know, we talked through things. And it's so funny, in the past, when these things had happened, I would already be on Zilla looking at all the locations and looking at houses and figuring it all out and making our plan. And you know, at this time, no. We just we sat with it, we we looked at the information, but the decision didn't come from a place of hurry or earning or striving, it came from a place of peace, and that's the whole point of all of this. It's that the Christian life isn't about becoming an expert at hearing God's voice, it's about becoming a woman who is quick to obey the voice he's already made clear. So, with that, I know this has been. I actually I got um one of my friends who listens, she sent me a text and she's probably listening now. So, hello, friend. Um, she said, This is exactly what I needed. This is this is this series has been fire. And um, it's because it it gets us into action, right? Like it starts from that right place. That it's not a formula for getting what you want, it's an invitation to right order from God Himself, right? It it it's it's this this practical walking out of when first things are first, other things stop ruling your heart. It it brings James 122 to life. Be doers of the word and not only hearers, right? We love getting all the information. Just tell me what I need to do. But in all of that, there's a danger in this endless learning, and that danger is actually procrastination. It's not that learning is bad or seeking information is bad, it's because delayed obedience often disguises itself as preparation. Who's ever gotten stuck at the drawing board and never actually taken action, right? Like I remember when I would start a new workout plan back when I was in like the end of high school and and early into college, right? Like I would get a new notebook, first step, right? Then I would research what fitness routine I was going to do that was gonna give me the results, right? And I would plan that out. And then I would get new workout clothes. Look, I look cute, right? And then I would literally do it for a day, maybe a week, and then I would stop. Why? Well, because it it I was looking for more information when really what I needed was discipline and obedience. Now I always went too too hard too fast, so that was part of it too. But but we need to understand that delayed obedience often disguises itself as preparation. Okay. We need to understand again that I want to remind you the Christian life isn't complicated, but it is costly. It costs your pride, your control, your timeline, your comfort, your self-protection. But it isn't confusing. Jesus's commands are so simple, usually two words, maybe three, mostly one. Follow me, abide in me, repent, forgive, love, trust, obey. It's simple. It's not easy, it's simple. So this week, stop asking God for five more answers and ask him for one thing. Lord, what have you already asked me to obey that I've been delaying? And then do that. Because obedience today prepares you for tomorrow. The wilderness prepares you for the giants. And the foundation God is building today is what will hold the weight of the blessing you're praying for tomorrow. Luke 11, 28 says, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it. It's not those who know the most. Look at the Jews, they knew the most, the religious leaders, they knew the most. And yet it was because of their massive amounts of knowledge that kept them from actually obeying and understanding and receiving the free gift of salvation. So again, it's not those who know the most or those who even ask the best questions, it's those who hear and obey. So, what has God actually called us to obey as wives? Because if we've learned to seek God first and give him our attention to consecrate our lives and obey what he already said, that's the question that comes next. What has God actually called us to obey as wives? So we're gonna keep moving on. We're gonna jump into a new series and we're gonna be focusing on what it actually looks like. We're gonna open scripture and walk through God's beautiful design for surrender, submission, biblical roles, and function, not as burdens, but as the pathway to freedom flourishing and oneness. I'll see you next time.