The importance of obedience

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

The importance of obedience

“If you love me, you will obey my commandments. I will ask the Father to give you someone else to help you, so that he may always be with you : it is the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive it, because it cannot see it or know it. But you know him, because he dwells with you and will always be in you.” John 14.15-17

Obedience to God is not the fruit of the Spirit. No mention of it is made in Galatians 5:22-23. The disciples kept the commandments of Jesus long before they received the Spirit (John 16:6-10). Obedience to God is a choice that all men and women can make because the Creator has given them this freedom. This is what theologians call “free will”. Adam chose, without anyone forcing him to disobey God. Abel chose to obey God while his brother Cain did the opposite. At the age of 65 Enoch, who apparently had lived in disobedience to God, now chose to walk with Him, and as a result he escaped death. The Old Testament is full of those men (including kings) who chose to obey God. You don't have to be perfect to obey God. No one can excuse themselves by saying : “I cannot obey God and the commandments of Jesus”. The truth is that this excuse hides a lack of will to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. It is enough to want to follow Jesus and then the Spirit is given to us to help us in this walk. Listen to what Peter says : “We are witnesses of these events, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32). The Spirit will never fill a disobedient heart. Obedience to the commandments of Jesus, and above all to the requirement to love our brothers and sisters, leads to the fullness of the Spirit and to divine blessings, but never forgetting that our walk is always based on the blood of Jesus which alone can purify us : “if we walk in the light… we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1.7).

Source (His Word for Today)