Walking in Obedience

Obedience. A word that none of us gets excited to read. Our instinct is to not read about it, and skip over to all the "feel good" stuff. But hang in there with me, because obedience is a big part of the Christian life. Jesus commands us to obey Him. He commands us to turn from sin. So let's look at the meaning of obedience.

Obedience is taking action in your faith. We are to follow the Lord's commands, and live a life that proclaims His work in you. We are not to live like we did prior to salvation. Romans 6:12-14 says, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Obedience is an act of love towards our Savior. When we obey Him, we are showing Him that we love Him more than our own fleshly desires. Our desires while we are in our mortal bodies is to sin against God. To do what we want instead what God tells us to do.

But how can we walk in obedience as we go throughout this life?

Well, we first have to reflect on how we are living in the present. Are we listening to things that don't glorify God? Are we disobeying our parents? Are we treating the people around us badly? Are we talking bad about them? Are we watching things that are sinful? Are we using the Lord's name in vain?

All of these questions are so important for us to ask ourselves, following with, "what would Jesus do?"

We are to do things that glorify God. That is what we are on this earth to do. That is our mission. Matthew 5:16 says, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

With all this, it's so important to remember that obedience is such an important act of faith in our lives. God loves us, He created us, and He knows what is best for us. But also, we get to remember that we are not alone while we are trying to walk in obedience. Jesus said He will always be with us. We will stumble and fail along the way, but we can know that we are saved when we are saddened by our sin, confess it to God and turn from it. It's hard to obey, but Jesus is helping us every step of the way.

Come get your faith in 5.