On Obedience

Obedience is something that is very important to God, as evidenced by the following verses:

“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” ~ I Samuel 15:22

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” ~ John 3:36

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” ~ John 14:15

The official definition of the word obedience is: “the act or practice of obeying (obey - to comply with or follow the commands, restrictions, wishes, or instructions of); dutiful or submissive compliance”. However, more completely, obedience includes three things:

1.   Immediately. Delayed obedience isn’t actually obedience, as that line in a children’s song about obedience indicates, “to delay means to disobey”.

2.   Cheerfully. If we have this one in place, the other two are more likely to follow. Attitudes go a long way!

3.   Completely. If something is not done the whole way, what good is it to even be done at all?

So next time God (or any authority in your life) asks you to do something, put on a big smile (not just on your face!), start acting right away, and don’t stop until every bit is done. And one more thing – you don’t need to ask “why?”. God never promised that He would tell us!

(I wrote this post mostly because I really need to be reminded of these points on obedience right now! :)