Obedience

That’s a tough word.  Especially in this, “instant gratification isn’t fast enough” culture of today.  Marketers are taught, if you want to sell your product you have to convey to the customer, “what’s in it for me if I buy your product.”

That’s what I love, and hate, about Christ.  Jesus is always there to challenge the worldly culture and our selfish desires.  I hate it because I want what I want when I want it.  The world tells me, “Yeah.  You should have what you want when you want it.”  The problem with my selfish desires is they are selfish!  Someone else usually gets hurt.  In the long run, I usually get hurt too.

I love it because God knows best.  Duh!  He’s God!  He knows that to the degree that I’m able to obey Jesus, there is great benefit in it!  Not just for me, but for the people around me that I end up serving rather than hurting.

Jesus is our example and even He obeyed His Father all the way to the cross.

Hebrews 5:8 & 9
⁸  Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

⁹  And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

Jesus is leading us into obedience, not because He is on a power trip, but rather, He knows there is great blessing for us when we obey.

In the Garden of Gethsemane before Jesus was taken captive to be crucified He was talking to His disciples.  Those last moments with His disciples are so key.  The things that Jesus had to say about His ministry on Earth, His Father, The Holy Spirit that was coming, and His prayer for believers are so important for followers of Christ today.  It’s all there in your Bible starting in John 14 through His capture in John 18.

In John 14, Jesus talked about the benefits of obedience.

John 14:21-23
²¹  Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

22  Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³  Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  ²⁴  He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

Obedience is hard.  I guess if it wasn’t, everyone would do it.  It’s tough because it takes faith in God.  We have to trust Him and not ourselves.  To be able to trust Him that if we do what is right it will turn out right.  Ever have pressure from a friend or a boss to do what you aren’t supposed to do?  It takes courage to say, “You know, I might be risking my job, or our friendship, but I have to do what s right.”  Jesus says if I love Him I will obey Him.  He won’t leave me or forsake me when I don’t, but depending on what I choose to do there may be consequences.  The Bible says that God disciplines those He loves.  But when I do obey, because I love God and I want to do what’s right, through that obedience He will reveal more of Himself to me.

Ever hear the Holy Spirit urge you to read the Bible when you get up in the morning?  There have been so many times that I have not obeyed that voice and logged on to Facebook instead.  Does God still love me?  Absolutely!  Is He still with me?  Sure.  But what would He have said to me through His Word if I had obeyed?  I would have been encouraged and better equipped to face the rest of the day!  Instead, in my disobedience, I don’t get encouraged.  That could lead to giving in to temptation, or not seeking His direction in an important decision, etc.  Disobedience quenches the Holy Spirit.  Instead of listening and obeying, I end up doing what I think is right, or sometimes, what I know is wrong.  When I listen and obey, I end up doing what God thinks is right!

As I obey, I become more like Jesus.  That’s an eternal benefit worth investing in.