The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience, which comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all.… [T]hey carry out the superior’s order as promptly as if the command came from God himself.… This very obedience, however, will be acceptable to God and agreeable to men only if compliance with what is commanded is not cringing or sluggish or half-hearted.… (Rule of St. Benedict 5.1-14)
Sheer cussedness is not a Christian virtue, even if you are from Texas. None of the translators feature “stubbornness” anywhere in the lists of fruits of the Spirit. “Perseverance” comes close, but perseverance implies that you’re going in the right direction. Going the other way just because it’s your way is called “perverse,” and that’s not in there either.
If you can’t tell the difference between persevering and perverse, ask yourself when was the last time you were wrong. If you can’t remember ever being wrong, or admitting it, you’ll belong in the short word crowd.
Watch out, because perverse can slide into “perverted” when you reject all correction, on principle. The day comes when even your instincts are destructive, and so are all your friends. That population does not perceive that the impulse carrying them over the cliff is their own ill will.
Rebellion gets attention, but rebellion for its own sake only tears down existing systems. The perpetual objector doesn’t contribute anything positive. At school, at home, at work, waiting in line and anywhere else, the person who just won’t do what anyone asks makes life tedious for everyone else. The worst part of leadership, when you are the one in charge is dragging along the grudging trudger.
All human authority rests on the authority of God (Romans 13:1-7). Where a derivative power contradicts the sustaining source, we surely should question that rickety racket. So do open your eyes, prick up your ears and wrinkle your nose before going along with anyone. But on the other hand, you can’t expect to develop sensitivity to divine cues, which are spiritual, if you refuse to heed human instructions, which you understand just fine. Obedience to human authority is a way of expressing obedience to God’s authority, when the one does not contradict the other.
This is why the goal of the Christian cannot be to rebel and get away with it. The Christian goal must be to establish a just society, so that there’s no moral dilemma opposing obedience to God and obedience to authority. In all ordinary occasions of everyday action, obedience to intermediate authorities is the Christian default. Not snide reluctance but willing participation is what we offer to those in positions of responsibility. If you are habitually helpful, when a truly moral dilemma comes along, most authority figures will be well-disposed to listen to you. Even tyrants run low on energy and resources. They lean on the person they can count on. Ten to one they would rather accommodate your objection on that day, since you frame it in a respectful way.
And if they refuse to listen, you will be able to mount an effective protest only if you can work with other people. Working with people always does end up requiring systems of authority, hierarchy and delegation, because perfect unanimity in all things is a divine quality, not a human one. Deferring to each other is the closest we can get to harmony.
Of course, the ultimate question is whether we can trust God, to want to obey him at all. In order to trust someone’s leadership, you need to feel confident both in the goodness and in the competence of the person in charge. God is good, but is he good enough? It’s the longing for goodness–to find it somewhere in the mess, to retrieve whatever’s left of it from annihilation, to set it back on its feet–that keeps driving us to throw in our lot with someone who does not guarantee that we will not suffer.
We do accomplish something. It is worthwhile. Risks are worth taking for a life worth living.
Obedience is trust taking that risk. We trust the God who created the universe to figure out how to fix it. He has a plan. No one else does. Christ is the only one offering redemption. He is the one who climbs into the rubble of the world to rescue those trapped in the wreckage of ruined lives. We follow him into dangerous places because we trust him to lead us through death itself into eternal life.