The train’s whistle pierced the morning air as it thundered past young Douglas’s childhood home. But this morning was different. Through the settling dust, he watched a man—ravaged by leprosy, fingers missing, face disfigured—throw himself onto the tracks in front of a speeding locomotive. Douglas saw what society had chosen to ignore: a human being who had decided death was kinder than living as an outcast.
This would not be the last time Douglas witnessed such a scene. He saw India’s forgotten souls jump in front of moving trains over and over again. Each death carved a deeper wound in his heart until one day in the stillness of his despair, he heard God’s whisper:
“Douglas, who will help these people?”
It felt like God’s call to Isaiah, “Who will go for me?” It was the question that would alter the course of his life forever.
Radical Obedience
Radical obedience to Christ isn’t always a thunderbolt moment. While we often expect a dramatic call that demands a dramatic response, true obedience often whispers. It might surface in those quiet moments when our hearts break at others’ suffering. It’s in those moments that we face a simple choice: step forward or turn back.
It’s easy for us to talk about Jesus, study our Bibles, and read Christian books; it’s a whole other thing to actually put it all into practice. We all want to fully live for Jesus, yet we often stumble somewhere between our good intentions and the call to action. We find ourselves believing much but doing little.
I’m tempted to tell you the Greek word for “obey” and explain its theological significance, but is that really necessary? We have enough scholars in the world. What we need is more obedience. Let’s make it simple: the word obey means, “Just do it!”
The truth is that we need to do what God calls us to do.
When we obey, we fulfill our highest purpose: glorifying him.
When we obey, we also reap the blessings he gives his obedient children. Jesus tells us, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23, NIV). Our intimacy with God grows with our obedience.
“It’s easy for us to talk about Jesus, study our Bibles, and read Christian books; it’s a whole other thing to actually put it all into practice.”
Obedience means we surrender to his will and do what he wants us to do—not what we want to do. That’s always a challenge. We want to do what we want to do. We exist to bring him glory, but it’s tempting to just glorify ourselves. Yet if we want to live the extraordinary life of ordinary disciples, we will choose his will over ours—not just as a one-time commitment but daily.
Young Douglas didn’t hesitate to surrender when he heard God’s quiet whisper to help people suffering from leprosy. His obedience to God’s call led him to become an amazing and widely respected man. Mr. Douglass Henry was the father of my (Ajai’s) wife, Indu. He has since gone to be with the Lord, but his story inspires me to this day.
He grew up in an incredibly poor family in central India, and his house sat right next to those same train tracks where he witnessed so much despair. His parents were Christians who, despite their poverty, raised him with strong principles and integrity. These principles would soon be put to the ultimate test.
I Will Go
When young Douglas witnessed India’s forgotten souls repeatedly choosing death over isolation, God’s whisper pierced his heart with crystal clarity. Like Isaiah before the throne, his response was an immediate and determined, “I will go! I will help these people. Send me!” 
His path forward wasn’t easy. After graduating from high school, he studied at the best medical college in India and then pursued further education in England, where he mastered reconstructive surgeries. He could have chosen to stay in England, go to America, or move to a large city in India and make millions of dollars, but this brilliant young man submitted his life to Jesus and surrendered his heart to a higher calling, and there was no turning back.
He returned to Chhattisgarh, India, an area close to where he grew up, and began to serve those whom others dared not touch. Working with a leprosy mission, he poured out his life for “the least of these”—people literally and completely rejected from society because of their illness.
In Matthew 25:40, Jesus declared, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.” Dr. Douglass Henry didn’t just memorize it; he lived it. That’s ordinary discipleship. You obey Jesus with no reservations and no regret.
“You obey Jesus with no reservations and no regret.”
The True Depth of Obedience
Francis Chan crystallized the gulf between knowing and doing with this sermon illustration:
What if I went into my home and told my teenage daughter, “Honey, go clean your room! It’s a mess!” And then an hour later, my daughter comes into the living room and says, “Dad! Listen to this! I memorized what you told me to do . . . listen. I can say it word for word: ‘Honey, go clean your room. It’s a mess.’ Isn’t that awesome?!? I worked really hard to get each word right!” How would I feel about that? I’d probably say something like, “Honey, if your room is not clean in five minutes, you’re going to be in big trouble!”
Or what if she said, “Well, before I clean it, I thought I would call a group of friends over, and we could talk about what you meant when you said, ‘Go clean your room.’ I’d like to study it a while first and make sure I know what you are talking about.”
Again, she’d be in big trouble.
I don’t care if my daughter memorizes what I said or if she studies what I said or if she writes down what I said. I just want her to obey! I want her to do it!
Chan’s point cuts to the heart of our problem: Do we spend so much time studying and memorizing the Bible, listening to sermons, attending church, conducting small group studies, and reading Christian books that we’ve forgotten we simply need to obey what Jesus has called us to do?
You can probably recite Matthew 28:18–20. If I start, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . .” you could say the rest from memory.
But here’s the question that should haunt us: Are we actually doing it? You know Jesus said to make disciples, but are you making disciples?
“Do we spend so much time studying and memorizing the Bible, listening to sermons, attending church, conducting small group studies, and reading Christian books that we’ve forgotten we simply need to obey what Jesus has called us to do?”
Do you truly live out Jesus’ other commands, like to love God with all you are and to love other people in the same way you want to be loved?
Those three commands sum up God’s will for our lives:
Love God.
Love people.
Make disciples.
It’s so simple, so why have we made it so complicated? And when will we stop playing in the shallow pools of knowledge (which we call “deep”) and dive into the true depths of obedience?
Many of us are sitting around waiting to hear God’s specific call for our lives but are ignoring the clear call he’s already given us in Scripture. We dream about our specific, special call from God, but how can we expect to receive that if we aren’t obeying what he’s already told us to do?
Let’s start there—with the black-and-white commands of the Bible. I’m convinced that faithfulness to these fundamental commands will clear the path for God’s more specific guidance.
Like driving at night, we can only see a few feet ahead on our journey of faith, but God sees the entire road. When we obey God in the small things, we have no idea where it might take us. We see only today’s step of obedience; God sees the full picture of what’s ahead.
