Obedience

I heard a story of a teacher who wrote a phrase on the board at the beginning of class, which stated: “I know everything I teach; however I don’t know everything.” Now I’m not going to pretend to know everything on the subject, but I do know everything in this teaching to be true and in accordance with Scripture. I am writing on my findings as of now and hope to update it as my walk with the Lord continues. You see at first I thought I had to study every verse that contained the words: obedience, obeys, obey, obeyed, and would find the answer. Instead, I realized that in order to study obedience, I also had to study what it meant to disobey, and what disobedience meant. You can teach a child everything that is right, however if you never teach that child what is wrong they will never know what wrong really is. Children always ask that famous question, “why” and, as an adult and/or parent the answer should never be “because I say so”, (only the Lord is entitled to that response), but a real reason should be given, so the child can understand the wrong in it. The same in making a decision in a certain subject, you can never be narrow-minded, but study both views before making an opinion, and then ask the famous question, why. There is nothing wrong in exploring and being open minded to all views before making a decision. That is the only way to really teach. That is what I had to do before writing this.

At first I thought it was going to be easy, then after researching verse after verse, story after story, and after hours of research, I realized it wasn’t. You see there’s more then just the word in a verse, it’s also stories throughout the Bible dealing with obedience and disobedience. From Adam and Eve to Abraham to Moses to Noah to include the Apostles who all suffered for their disobedience, but were rewarded greatly for their obedience. Even today you hear stories of Christians who suffered the wrath of man for their faith and obedience to the Lord, even when faced with torture or even death they still obeyed the Lord. If we fear the consequences of man and not the wrath of God we are merely cowards walking endlessly in a desert, like Moses did for forty years. As stated in Isaiah 1:19-20, “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” “For the mouth of the Lord” has spoken. Suffering for Christ is not the worst thing that can happen to us as Christians, but being disobedient to God is the worst thing that could ever happen. For Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

God wants us to mature in every area of life, but maturity doesn’t come easily. There can be no growth without challenge, and there can be no challenge without change. If circumstances never changed, everything would be predictable; and the more predictable life becomes, the less challenge it presents. As stated in 1 John 1:5-10,“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” You see as you grow in Christ and start to see the light, you realize that you were in the dark and that what you were doing was wrong and disobedient to the Lord. However in the dark everything looks alike, and so you need a light (the Lord) to see to right from wrong, obedience from disobedience. According to man’s law it may not be illegal, however it may morally wrong according to God’s people. When I first started this word study on obedience I really didn’t know where to begin. For I was still so much in the darkness. Once I started writing this essay I realized what the Lord wanted me to write, because he gave me the knowledge through the Holy Spirit. In the last few months I have accumulated dozens of books covering all sort of subjects on Christianity, but without realizing it, I was only reading the ones that I needed to write this report on obedience. He also showed me what verses to read and study. So I prayed about it, as the Lord says, Job 22:27 “You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.” And the Lord answered my prayers with what follows.