“That’s not very smart” was Lynne’s response when I told her I was going to Airborne Training (Jump School). I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been given the “not smart” response on many occasions, some not valid but many probably so.

When I volunteered to return to Vietnam for a second combat tour, several people responded with, “Not smart.” When Lynne and I married 13 days after our first date, there were a few who responded, “Not smart.” Fifty-three-plus years of marriage have disproven that one, but numerous scars and three impacted back discs might give some credence to the Jump School and second Vietnam tour as not my smartest choices.

Older and wiser now, I have learned there are many things that rise to the level of “not smart.” But for believing Christians, I think the greatest example of not smart is when I am not all in for King Jesus. Being half-hearted in any occupation rarely results in an individual rising to prominence, but for a Christian, the consequences are going to be disappointing.

Half-hearted Christianity will never deliver the joy and peace Jesus promised. He created us, so He knows what the human heart longs for. In the Upper Room Discourse, as Christ prepared to go to the cross, He made this statement to His followers:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:9-12, ESV)

Jesus tied obedience to His teachings to any fullness of joy in the life of a disciple. As I contemplated that thought, a recent devotion captured the essence of what I had been reflecting on.

Love, joy, and peace are key words in John’s gospel. In John 15:9-15, love and joy are associated with obedience. One can’t choose joy without choosing obedience: ‘If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete’ (vv. 10-11). Love and joy are listed in Galatians 5:22-23 as fruit or evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the lives of believers in Jesus: ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Disobedience to Christ’s commands, specifically the command to love, robs us of joy. Empowered by the Spirit, however, we can obey Him, which results in joy that the world can’t give and can’t take away.

(Our Daily Bread Insight, October 16, 2024, Arthur Jackson)

I often make obedience more complex than it needs to be. Jesus summarized it well enough that even a Marine can comprehend it! A lawyer once asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was: “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:37-40).

If I evaluate my actions in the light of this statement, it simplifies life, and I then experience the fullness of joy that Jesus promised His followers. Any other response is just “not smart”!

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!