Obedience to God Demonstrates Love and Trust
We’ve been talking a little bit lately about obedience to God—some of the whys, hows, warnings, and scripture resources (links to previous posts at the bottom). I think I’ve written more on obedience lately because I have a lot of that written in my journals (what I often reference when writing my posts). Since, I have a lot written in my journals, this probably means that God is really trying to get this point through my thick head!
If I’m being totally honest with you, I have to admit that I often struggle with obedience to God—at least immediate obedience. I tend to argue, push back, and fight a lot when God asks me to do something I don’t really want to do. You know…a lot like a toddler! Toddler Tracy, that’s me when it comes to obeying God! Does anyone else relate? I don’t know why I fight so much though because it ALWAYS works out better than I imagined in the end.
Unfortunately what it really boils down to is that I apparently don’t really trust God, and I’m definitely not demonstrating my love for him when I ignore him or am defiant. These were some painful convictions I recently had. I’ve learned through reading the bible and from some devotions/messages how our obedience to God proves that we love him and demonstrates our trust. Today I’d like to share some examples of those insights with you.
If you love me, obey my commandments. John 14:15
About 5 years ago, I read through Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional—it’s a year reading plan in the bible app (or Bible.com). It’s an excellent plan that I highly recommend. Several of the devotions throughout the plan focused on obedience to God. Below is one that stood out to me about today’s topic.
Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional, Day 320
“Today, the word obey has a negative connotation. We view obedience as a forced, unwilling decision to do something we don’t want to do because we’re afraid of punishment. But that’s not the kind of obedience that’s in God’s Word. Obedience in the Bible means this: love + trust + action.
It starts with love, as Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (NIV) Obedience comes from knowing that God loves you and you love him in return.
A lot of people think obedience is about fearing God, but God wants us to see obedience to him as a relationship of love. And out of love comes trust. If you trust what God is saying to you, and you believe that he loves you, then that will lead to action.
You need to have all three because action without love is just rote religion. And love without action is just mere talk.”[1]
What I wrote to myself this day…Don’t fight against God. Do you love God? Then keep his commandments—obey.
I KNOW God loves me, and I really do love God. So now I just need to turn this to trust, then to action.