Posts Tagged ‘command’

No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11b (NKJV)

Obedience is a kid thing, right? Ephesians 6:1 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (NKJV) We like to think of it as strictly the duty of children.

When I read Jesus’ words saying that if we love Him we will keep His commands (John 14:15), I hear the instruction to be obedient to Him.

It’s easy to love someone when there are “no strings attached.” However, with Christ, He gives these “strings” called commandments. If anyone refuses to obey them, He says that is a clear mark saying that they do not love Him.

In that statement, I was deliberate in the word “refuse.” No one can perfectly keep God’s Law on earth. Our “failure” to obey, our momentary weaknesses are just that, human weakness, commonly known as our sin nature (Romans 3:10). It is the refusal to obey God that shows the lack of love for Him and lack of guidance from the Holy Spirit.

When we relate it to the child and the parent it is easy to see the truth of that, assuming you have had good parental role models. When a child misbehaves, forgets what he should be doing, or falls short of our expectations (like when we say, “Clean your room” and they announce in 5 minutes, “All done!.” When we check, we find only a portion of the work has been done.), we don’t bring out the big guns.

As parents, we correct this but we don’t unload our heaviest punishments. They are reserved for defiance and rebellion.

God may chasten us like a good Father for our infractions of His law. He calls this sanctification. But, for continuous defiance and rebellion, He says we are showing that we do not love Him.

Even in this He is a good God! He promises forgiveness to those who confess and repent of their sin. In Deuteronomy 11 He promises blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 11:26- 28).

In our culture today, it is tempting to be disobedient to God who is invisible to appease man who is in our face (or Facebook feed). People have become so anti-Christian that a believer who has not been taught what the scriptures say (or studied them enough) can be easily swayed by the person who has a strong, though unfounded, opinion about any earthly matter.

It seems to me that if God is going to bless us or curse us based on our obedience to His Word, we should want to know what it says so we can go for the blessings!

In Deuteronomy 28:2 God makes a great promise. He says, “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God,” and then He lists the blessings.

What would it be like to have the blessings of God “overtake” us? If we want to find out we need to be obedient children, the obedient children of God. To obey His commandments, we have to know what they are.