I was recently doing my Bible Devotional book over the personal revivals people will experience when they decide to rededicate their lives to Christ. This past week’s topic has been about obedience, and how important obedience is for our everyday lives and for our Christian walk with Jesus. Today’s Bible Devotion reminder was all about the importance of full obedience. It can’t be partial obedience. We can’t partially listen to God and his instructions. We need to listen to God completely in order to really be an obedient follower of Christ.
This is completely understandable. I remember when I was a teacher, and I would get frustrated when my students would only listen to half of the instructions, or when they only completed half of the assignment. I know not everyone here is or has been a teacher, but I think there are many different scenarios we can all be in where we do not get fully heard and therefore, we do not get what we completely ask for. For another example, a few days ago, I ordered a coffee and while I ordered a hot coffee, I ended up receiving an iced coffee. It was still good, and it ended up not being a big deal, but initially I was a bit shocked and disappointed I did not get exactly the coffee I originally ordered.
God is just the same way. He also has thoughts and beliefs and commands he wants his people to obey completely. However, just as most just people who make rules and who ask for certain things, there is a purpose for these requests from God. Sometimes because we are people, rules or things we ask for are not completely perfect or selfless. However, a lot of parents, teachers, and other rule creators choose these rules for the reasons of keeping people safe and to make wise choices.
God is completely superior when it comes to making his laws or his requests be for the betterment of His people. We as His people may not completely understand at the time, but the commands God gives to us are always for our betterment and for His will to be fulfilled. We may not understand or have all the pieces, but we do need to know that there is a plan in the works for all of us. God has a better picture in mind for every single one of us than we could ever imagine.
A verse highlighting the importance of obedience is Proverbs 16:20, “Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” This verse is a great piece of advice. This is a good reminder to heed the instruction of the Lord, and they will prosper. This may not be the kind of prospering the world always wants to highlight, but it may be more about prospering in the world after Christ comes back and brings everyone to Him. Remember that we don’t have to have the prosperity in the world because it is such a short amount of our whole eternity. It is our life after this world that matters.
The hardest part of this devotional exercise was answering the questions about whether we are fully in obedience or disobedience. Some of these questions were really hard for me to reflect over, like whether or not I am really willing to forgive all the people who have wronged me in the past. I have really struggled with completely forgiving a few individuals who have really hurt me. I know I should, and sometimes I swear I have completely forgiven them, but then some bitterness will creep into my heart. I have to completely obey God when it comes to this particular act of forgiveness.
I also personally really struggle with completely believing God will take care of me financially. I can’t always trust God with my finances and all of my decisions. I know I am supposed to trust Him, but it can be so hard at times. I have been especially feeling this when I have many different car parts that have needed to be changed over this past year. It has been very discouraging for me. I have been very saddened and disgruntled by these payments that seem to come out of nowhere.
My challenge for you this week is to find what you struggle to fully obey God in. Is this in your financial life or in your relationship life? Do you struggle to obey when it comes to your job life or when it comes to the friendships you have made over the past couple of years? Has the Holy Spirit been trying to lead you to an area in your life where you should grow in obedience that you may have ignored up to this point? Then the second challenge is to pray to God to best help you overcome this lack of obedience in your life. It can be hard at times, but God wants us to fully obey Him, and it will end up with a bigger reward than anything else we could think or dream of as possible.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 