Our Obedience to God

How often do you go against God by failing to follow his commands and teachings? Have you ever asked for forgiveness? If so, do you live a good Christian life free from immorality after confession or do you continue to live a non-Christian life?

God gave us the gift of life and wants us to obey and love Him. He requires us to keep His laws and refrain from all evil so that we can have a good relationship with Him.

-            Lev 20:7-8      

    “ Keep yourselves holy, because I am the Lord your God. Obey my laws, because I am the Lord and I make you holy.”

God promises to bless and protect us if we live according to His laws. He is the only one to be worshipped and must always come first place in our lives. We should not put idols such as money, pleasure, wealth and fame before Him. He is a majestic and jealous God.

-          Lev 26:3-12          Deut 7:12-26, 28:1-14

God promises to provide us with enough to eat and drink. He will bless the work of our hands and we shall not be at a loss of anything. He will be our guide and keep us safe from all our enemies. The Lord will make us His own people and all other nations of the earth will see that we have a mighty and loving God. We shall prosper and never fail if we obey His commands faithfully.

-          Lev 26:14-45       Deut 28:15-35, 38-42

However, if we disobey Him, God will punish us and we’d lose the blessings we had received. Anything we try to do will not succeed. Our farms will not produce enough food and we shall have to beg. Our enemies will gloat over us and be happy at our misery. We will have many troubles and no one to turn to.  Any business we set up will not make it. He will curse everything we do.

-          Gen 2:15-17, 3:6-7

Disobedience can lead to the loss of good things that God has promises us.

At the beginning of creation, God forbid Adam and Eve from eating the fruit in the middle of the garden that gave knowledge of what was right and wrong but they disobeyed Him. God was angry and punished them. They had to till the land to produce food for their consumption yet they would have had all the food they needed in the garden if they had been obedient.

-          1 Sam 15:2-3, 7-9, 22-23, 24-26

When we disobey God’s commands, He rejects us and gives our blessings to someone else. This was the case with King Saul. He had been commanded by God to go attack the Amalekites for having opposed the Israelites and kill all men, women, children and animals. He attacked with his army but he disobeyed God by bringing back King Agag and some sheep and cattle to offer as sacrifices to God. God was angry and rejected him as king of Israel. Samuel told him it was better to obey God than offer Him sacrifices.

King Saul was also afraid of his army and did what they wanted- carrying the best sheep and cattle. His fear had led him to disobey God.

-          Acts 5:29             

 ‘Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God, not men.”’

-          Math 10:28

God is our creator and we must obey Him above all men.

Jesus Christ taught that we should not be afraid of those who only kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather we should be afraid of God, who can destroy both the body and soul. He is supreme. We should live to please Him.

-          1 Thes 4:1-8

“….you should live to please God…God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality….no man should do wrong to his fellow Christian or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish those who do that. God did not call us to live in immorality but in holiness. So whoever rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God.”

-          John 14:15-24

“If you love me, you will obey my commands. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the spirit who reveals the truth about God. Those who accept my commands are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who love me; I too will love them and reveal myself to them. “

When we realize that we have sinned, we should confess and ask the Lord for forgiveness. God is always happy when His children repent.

-          Luke 15: 1-7, 8-10, 11-32

“ …there will be joy in heaven when one sinner repents….”

-          Eph 2:4,5

“But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience He brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved.”

We should therefore strive to live a good Christian life obeying God. Whenever we fail in our values, we should pray asking for forgiveness and we shall be put right with Him.

-          Deut 30:2, 9,10

“If you and your descendants will turn back to the Lord and with all your heart obey His commands…the Lord will make you prosperous in all that you do; you will have many children and a lot of livestock, and your fields will produce abundant crops. He will be glad to make you prosperous…”

-          Philippians 2:12-15

“……so then my brothers and sisters, ……keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey His own purpose.”