Obedience. No one really loves the word. It automatically makes you think of doing things that you don’t really want to do. There always seems to be consequence attached to being obedient. If you aren’t obedient there is some sort of punishment awaiting you. So what happens when God tells you to be obedient?
Does God punish us if we aren’t obedient? If he is a good God, does our refusal to be obedient lead to us facing something bad?
I believe that when we view being obedient to God through the same lens that we view obedience in the world we are doing ourselves a disservice. God doesn’t use obedience as a way to manipulate us or pull the rug out from under us. He asks us to say yes to the bigger plan that he has for us without seeing all of the details.
He is purely a gentleman in asking us to obey him. He doesn’t withhold love if we don’t obey. He doesn’t cause punishment and calamity to overcome us because we don’t do what he asks. But we will always miss out on the more that God has for us when we aren’t obedient. We miss out on depth of relationship with him when we aren’t obedient to do what he asks.
As I look forward on my life there are things that God is asking of me, things that will cost me to be obedient. There are days that I get excited about what God is asking me to do, and others I wonder if it’s really worth the sacrifice. But if I believe that God is truly a father to me, then it’s easy to say yes to obedience.
Father’s are providers, they love deeply and completely, they keep their children safe, they are willing to do whatever it takes for their children to know how worthy they are. In exchange for all of that, they simply ask their children to trust them and be obedient. If I am a daughter of God, then I can trust God to be father and I can trust him as worthy of my obedience. Because my obedience is not one-sided; my obedience comes with promise of full provision, full love, and full relationship.
So as I continue to step forward on the path God has laid out for me I will be obedient to what he is asking. My obedience will cost me, and some days that is really hard, but I am slowly learning that what I receive in being obedient far outweighs the cost to begin with.
