PROMPT OBEDIENCE
Memorise: And another of his disciples
said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said
unto him, Fellow me; and let the dead bury their body. Matthew 8:21-22
Read: 1st Samuel 15:22-23,
Bible in one year: Nahum 1-3, Matthew 12:9-32
In the service of God, sacrifice is
good. God expects all His children to present their bodies as a living
sacrifice to Him. He also expects our sacrifices to be holy and acceptable
(Romans 12:1). However, He makes it clear that He prefers obedience to
sacrifice. Jeremiah 7:23 says,
“But
this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and
ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you,
that it may be well unto you.”
Obedience is the act of doing what one
is told to do. In the spiritual sense, obedience is total submission to the
written and spoken word of God. It is an express but conditional commandment of
God. In Exodus 19:5, God instructed the Israelites to obey His voice:
“Now
therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall
be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine:”
One distinguishing characteristic of
those who are great in the things of God is prompt obedience. The Bible
contains so many stories of men and women who become great for God as a result
of their obedience to His word. A classical example of a person whose lifestyle
was defined by prompt obedience was Abraham. Other heroes of obedience include
Joseph, Joshua, Ruth, David, Elijah, Elisha and our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.
Obedience entails learning (Hebrews
5:8). It involves God taking you to His own school of theology. Here you are
stripped of all knowledge and pomposity in order to obey God in simple holiness
and truth. Obedience requires sincerity, genuineness and love. True obedience
comes from a heart of love. It is real and not mere eye service. Obedience
requires boldness. It takes boldness for a child of God to obey him in this
world of perversion and outright corruption. It takes moral courage to live
holy and move against the tide of sin. Don’t be a moral coward. Be bold enough
to say “no” to all acts of unrighteousness. Speak out against sin anywhere you
find yourself. A true Christian is one who is neither ashamed of the gospel nor
a shame to the gospel. You can overcome the fear of man through reliance on the
power of the Holy Spirit. Obedience requires humility. It takes the grace of
God to obey God all the way to the end. Are you facing persecution because of
your obedience to Christ? Don’t give up! Don’t compromise your stand. Don’t
allow yourself to be distracted from the path of obedience. Obedience must not
be done haphazardly. Disobedience is rebellion, which is likened to witchcraft
(1st Samuel 15:23).
Action Point
Obey God, obey those who share the truth
with you, obey your leader and obey your body when it needs rest.
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