Obedience!

 

 Thought For Today - September 20
 Obedience!
By: Robert A. Searles

    How often do we stop to consider the importance of our unquestioned obedience to God? Obedience, is to do exactly what God tells us to do, immediately without question ,with the right heart attitude. If we want God to take our lives and make something out of them, and perform miracles in our lives, we must be willing to submit ourselves to the strict discipline of the Lord in obedience. At the wedding at  Cana,  when the people looked to Jesus for something special, his mother said unto the servants: "whatever he saith unto you, do it".

    If we are to serve God faithfully and enjoy the blessings of God in our lives, then whatever he says unto us to do we ought to do it.  How do we know what he would say for us to do? We can know by reading his word, and by the influence of the Holy Spirit upon our lives. The Holy Spirit will never influence us to do anything that will not bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy spirit will never tell us to do anything that has not already been given to us as a command in the written word of God. It is never God's will to go contrary to the written word of God.

    This is why many people, even Christians avoid the word of God and neglect to read it, because the word of God speaks to them and tells them things to do, and because of the rebellious nature within, they do not want to do what he tells them. So, by avoiding the word, they think that they do not have to obey.

Obedience is necessary for our happiness, well being, and even long life.

 A true story is told of a little boy who was out in the field playing baseball with his father who was a missionary. His obedience to his father, immediately without question when his father spoke to him,  and with the right heart attitude saved his life. 

The story goes that while playing ball together in the field, without any warning, his father suddenly said to him, "drop down on your belly and crawl toward daddy." Without question, or without any hesitation whatsoever, the boy immediately dropped to his belly and started to crawl toward his father. After he had crawled ten or fifteen feet, his father said: "now stand up and run to daddy." Immediately the boy stood up and ran to his father. His father caught him in his arms, and when the boy looked back, he saw a big ten foot snake that was ready to strike, hanging from the tree that he had been just standing under.   If he had questioned his father or stopped to look around, the snake would probably have struck, and the boy would have lost his life.

    This is the kind of willing obedience that God expects from his children for their safety and well being.  God speaks to us through his written word, and through the influence of the Holy Spirit on our  conscience .  God speaks to us through Godly parents, pastors, teachers, and those he has put in authority over us.

    Though Jesus was king of the universe, he was perfectly obedient to the word and will of his heavenly father.

 "Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered: and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Hebrews 5: 8.9

 
"And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great a delight in burnt offering and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better that sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22.

Read Colossians 3: 18-25.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry