Obeying Christ is far more difficult and yet, far more simple than one might think.
You could break up all the commands of Jesus in the gospels and Acts—there are approximately 1,050 direct commands from Jesus! If we combine and organize them we get about 800 categories of commands...and they are all well worth reading, studying, memorizing, and saying to our own spirits when we need reminders. (Here's a link to a PDF I found, though I'm not familiar with the group that compiled it.) But it would be IMPOSSIBLE without the Holy Spirit to even attempt to obey them all! It would be easy to fall into legalism if we strive to do so. And, that's just the commands in the New Testament!
So don't.
I am NOT saying don't obey Jesus' commands. I'm also NOT saying to ignore them.
I am saying don't strive to do so. If you find yourself striving, you're not doing it right.
Overwhelmed? Maybe it will help if we simplify these commands even further. You could also distill those 800 categories into 49 commands. Or better yet, about 7 distinct commands (a good explanatory link, here):
Love One Another
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”—John 13:34-35
Pray for your Enemies
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”—Matthew 5:44-45
Repent
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”—Matthew 4:17
Believe that Jesus is in the Father
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.“—John 14:11
Take up your Cross and Follow Me
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”—Matthew 16:24-25
Go and Make Disciples
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”—Matthew 28:18-20
Pray
“But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”—Luke 21:36
That's a bit better—maybe I could obey seven. Maybe? Fat chance. Who am I kidding?! That's not realistic. It's not that I'm not smart enough to remember seven or try to work them into my habit-building. I could. But I would fail. Every time.
Why? Because observing the seven, 800, or 1,000+ commands would not lead me into true obedience because it would not require me to actually spend time with Jesus, Himself. In all my habit-building-business, I would fail to draw near to His presence to receive from Him. He would not be my All In All. These commands would quickly become idolatry—a source of pride and comparison. I wouldn't trust God. I'd lose my rest completely.
"I have failed if God is named but not praised, analyzed but not glorified, seen but not sought. I will have failed if we know better the character of God but are no more inclined than before to rest in Him. And if we don't rest in Him, we'll never risk for Him." —Mark Buchanan, The Holy Wild
If we don't rest in God, we will never risk for God. And make no mistake: Christ asks us to risk for Him. He says, "Take up your cross and follow me." That's the real command, the underlying, undergirding command he says to all his disciples.
The point of the laws and the commands—both Old and New Testaments—has always been to drive home unequivocally that we CANNOT keep them. We need God. We need the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and its fruit. We need faith.
"And faith is finally this: resting so utterly in the character of God— in the ultimate goodness of God—that you trust Him even when He seems untrustworthy." —Mark Buchannan, The Holy Wild
I have come to believe that faithfulness is being full of faith that God will enable you to complete the large tasks that masquerade as small tasks so that the God who started the work in us, will complete it.
I think, in my own life, I've loved studying the law and commands of Christ. There's a lot of blessings in doing so (Psalm 1). But there was always a percentage of me that did so to avoid the real call...I think all believers know the call, looming on the periphery. Maybe we think if we keep the "little" ones, we can stave off the big one...
But if we're going to follow Christ, at some point we're going to have to set our face toward Jerusalem—toward the cross—as Christ did (Luke 9:51).
This is why, in the formula I've been breaking down and the point of this post merges several thoughts into one long statement:
To know Him is to love Him.
To love Him is to trust Him.
To trust Him is to obey Him.
To obey Him is to follow Him.
To follow Him is to die to our self/absolute surrender and walk in abundant life.
To obey Him is to follow Him...to where? Through death to self (aka absolute surrender) and to walk in new life. Through the cross. Take up your cross, He says.
"Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown."—Revelations 2:10
Forget suffering. Forget being faithful to the point of death. We won't even be able to obey him unless we've learned to trust him because we've learned to love him, all because we intimately know who he really is.
That's where he wants us, fully dependent on him:
"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." —Phillippians 2:13
Grace calls us—and enables us—to follow Christ.