Obedience means to hear, conform to, and carry out the instructions that God gives us.
What Is Obedience?
God is Sovereign. He can set expectations on our obedience to His laws and commandments (Aren’t We All Children of God?).
God asked Adam and Eve for one thing – obedience. The Scriptures tell us He put only one restriction on them. Yep, they had one job. One job. And they messed it up. That mess up is called sin (Completion from the Cross).
We have to have a strong conviction in God to deliberately choose obedience. We get that by seeking God (Will There Be a Judgment Day?).
We have to let God’s Truth change us. It has to eliminate the sin in our lives and replace it with obedience (The Spirit of Truth).
We have to get to the righteousness by going through the process of sanctification. However, sanctification is accomplished through obedience. That is doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts (Faith as a Value).
Righteousness is the result of faith and obedience (What Is Righteousness?).
God has to see evidence that we have chosen Him. He wants to make sure we aren’t just buying fire insurance. That evidence is our obedience (How Do Disciples Crave Righteousness?).
God is looking for obedience, submission, and service. God is looking for a change in heart (The Nominal Disciple).
We get the obedience to a heart level so that we work on a pure, godly life (Wisdom Produces Compassion).
If obedience to God’s laws is going to get to our heart levels, we have to open our hearts and accept it all the way in us so that it changes us. Yes, that means repetition so it will get through our hard heads and hard hearts (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
We can’t get obedience to the heart level until we get the Scriptures there (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
Obedience is supposed to build the character. The character obeys because we are imitating Him (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Wisdom?).
Obedience requires discipline (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
Self-discipline is important because God doesn’t water down the do’s and don’ts. Yes, He knows we won’t have perfect obedience until we get to heaven (Salvation in a Nutshell).
Obedience calls for action (What Is Obedience?).
Obedience can only be attained when human passions can be controlled (Temperance as a Virtue).
Shouldn’t we go to the Master to learn about obedience? (God Teaches Us Obedience).
See Also
What Obedience Isn’t
We sure didn’t expect Him to respond to our disobedience with designing the Plan of Salvation (Is Election Really Mercy?).
We don’t need to do the do’s and not do the don’ts for salvation. However, obedience is a big part of the sanctification road (Salvation in a Nutshell).
Obedience is not easy. Satan wants us to think we have no say in the matter. But we do — it is called free will (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Obedience?).
Obeying isn’t as hard as Satan makes it out to be (Isn’t It Impossible to be Obedient?).
If others can withstand the temptation and be obedient, so can we (Isn’t It Impossible to be Obedient?).
We don’t get a free pass on sin just because we are disciples. We have to actively be trying to withstand Satan’s temptations and live in obedience to God (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
We don’t get to judge or pick and choose which laws to follow. God has called us to obedience (How Do We Keep the Sabbath Holy?).
We shouldn’t mourn because God is correcting us because of disobedience. God corrects us so that we can change to be more like Him (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
If we are not living as we should, we don’t have peace. This is because the disobedience brings punishment (What Are the Fruits of Righteousness?).
God had told Adam he couldn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for he would die if he did (Gen. 2: 16-17). But Satan being Satan, He twisted that to make disobedience attractive (Completion from the Cross).
What does our disobedience and false profession tell others about the kingdom of God? It sends the message that what God requires is not important (What Do You Mean All Disciples Won’t Get into Heaven?).
See Also
The Fine Line of Obedience
Our attitude shows how much we are truly submitting to God. Yes, it starts out with obedience, but we are not going to be 100% obedient in this life. (That doesn’t give us license to sin, but it means we don’t have to beat ourselves up after every sin.) It all boils down to how much are we truly committed to God (How Should We Handle God’s Discipline?).
Being a good person does not make us closer to God — unless we have made the decision to accept Jesus as our Savior and God as our Sovereign God. It isn’t about obedience. It is about a relationship (What Is Self-Discipline?).
Yes, God wants the obedience, but even more, He wants the relationship. He wants us to be His (Characteristics of Disciples’ Lives).
When we show our trust and obedience in God, we are also exhibiting God’s goodness. We are changed by trusting and obeying Him — changed to be more like Him, including exhibiting the goodness (Goodness as a Virtue).
We’ve got to take obedience to the next level and do it. We can’t just hear it (God Teaches Us Obedience).
It isn’t that we know God is God and that we are being tempted. We have to say and believe. God gives us the opportunity to confess our sins — and confirm our obedience to Him (Who Was Balaam?).
We should be reverent in prayer and in obedience (Godliness as a Virtue).
Duty, self-control, obedience, patience, perseverance — it is all about trying to please God (Love and Obedience: The Last Two Steps in Salvation).
Being Gentile did not preclude them from gaining God’s mercy. Instead, the world was blessed because of the Jew’s disobedience/unbelief (Is Election Really Mercy?).
Boldness is needed to foster obedience. I mean, when Satan is flinging stuff at us right and left, doesn’t boldness play a big part in choosing to follow God’s laws and commandments? (How Does Boldness Help Consistency?).
We may be asked to do things that challenge our beliefs because we need to align them with God’s. Obedience is the key (What Is Missions?).
The Practice of Obedience
We have to be practicing obedience to God’s Will. How do we learn the most? Many of us are hands-on learners. You can talk us to death, and we think we have a clue. But it isn’t until we get in the lab or in the project where things really start clicking. Where is our lab with God? In the middle of the trials (God Teaches Us Obedience).
We have to be consistently following His Will in prayerful obedience (Good versus Evil).
We start out small in the obedience area. That may be because the trust area is low. We trust God and we obey. That feels pretty good. It boosts our confidence. Here comes another temptation — a little more involved this time. Repeat — trust, obey, confidence. Pretty soon, we have a good foundation. We know that however hard and scary the temptation is, God won’t leave us and will help us through it (God Teaches Us Obedience).
We need to bag our pride and mourn disobedience (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
We can work on our relationship with God. We can work on our obedience. We can work on our witness (Godliness as a Virtue).
However long Jesus takes in returning should have no bearing on our obedience. We need to remain obedient always (Faithful and Unfaithful Stewards).
Divine Intervention Regarding Obedience
- Jesus came as an example of the obedience for which God was looking. We needed Someone to model our relationship with God (One God and the Trinity).
- Jesus always obeyed God, just as we are called to do (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Obedience?).
- Neither did Jesus force God to forgive us, even when we don’t ask. Nor did He secure a reward for obedience. We have to ask for forgiveness. We have to obey (Did Jesus or His Blood Redeem Us).
- Jesus is the Judge. He has been designated Judge as a reward for His obedience in becoming the Sacrifice for our sins. When judgment day comes, He will judge the living and the dead (Forever Worshiping Our Lord).
- Jesus still had to ask God to glorify Him. He didn’t think He deserved it for His obedience. He didn’t think He was entitled because He had given up His life (What Was Jesus’ Mission?).
- The Jews just didn’t get what Jesus was getting at. Jesus was looking at addressing the death part — by focusing on the obedience part (Jesus the Liberator).
- We are Jesus’ reward for His obedience (Comprehending the Effects of Salvation).
Rewards of Obedience
- God helps and blesses those who submit to Him in obedience. We have to focus on Him, not on ourselves and the world (Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?).
- I think the gift of the Holy Spirit is God’s choice. However, He will reward us for our obedience with even more gifts (Witnessing as God Calls).
- Fruits of righteousness are the rewards being holy and righteous: eternal life, peace, access to Sovereign God, and joy. All of that is predicated on our obedience (The Rewards of Faithfulness).
- It’s about obedience. We will be blessed when we totally give our lives over to Him (Rewards for Focusing on God).
- Solomon told us that we would be rewarded for obedience. He was now telling us that disobedience would be disciplined (How Should We Handle God’s Discipline?).
See Also
Obedience and the Churchy Words
- Belief, repentance, and obedience to the gospel cannot be separated. Baptism is obedience (Is Baptism a Part of Salvation?).
- Faith produces works that are the result of our obedience. In turn, those works show our faith to others (How the Righteousness of God Filters to Us).
- God is interested in our commitment. Yes, He wants the obedience, but He doesn’t want us to make that obedience a work. There is nothing we can do or not do to make us righteous. We have to be committed to God to trust that He will make us righteous (Peace Gained through Prayer).
- The only way we gain salvation is through obedience to the Truth (Jesus the Liberator).
- Peace is a result of obedience. No obedience, no peace (God’s Law Creates Peace).
See Also
How We Obey
God wants all of us to turn back and obey Him (Being Content Because We Are Godly).
We are to obey God and ask forgiveness for being sinners – and we then are purified (Who Can Learn God’s Truth?).
We are all to obey because God tells us to do so. What is this all about? It is about submitting to the authority figure. God wants us to do that. Do what they tell us to do. Don’t talk back. Don’t do the opposite of what they say. Obey (An Unjust World).
When we confess God as Sovereign Lord, we have to submit to His Will. We have to obey what He tells us to do and not to do (What Do You Mean All Disciples Won’t Get into Heaven?).
We need to crucify the sin in our lives. We need to put it to death so that we submit to God and obey Him (How Are We Debtors to God?).
We’ve got to obey God’s directions — even if we don’t fully understand them (Isaiah’s Message about the Baby).
God wants us to repent. God wants our relationships with Him to be restored. In order to restore our relationship, we have to obey Him (What Happens When We Repent?).
God wants to use this stability we find in Him to grow closer to Him, increasing growth in godliness. He wants us to obey Him and serve Him (What Is Truth?).
We grow when we are obeying God – especially through trials. Obeying God means Satan has less and less influence over people (Spiritual Freedom).
We want to have a pure conscience — a conscience where we have not disobeyed God in any way. We want to work toward obeying Him completely (In Support of Widows).
As we cut out that sin and obey God’s laws and commandments, we begin to imitate Him. That changes our hearts so that our character is like His (What Is Truth?).
Because we love Him, we want to do what He wants us to do. We show that by spending time with Him in prayer and obeying His laws and commandments (Love and Obedience: The Last Two Steps in Salvation).
We have to turn. We have to repent and give up our love of sin – even our pet sin. We have to obey God’s laws and commandments (Comprehending Christ’s Love).
The laws show us God’s character. They show us how to imitate Him. If we obey the laws, we grow in holiness and righteousness (Where Is Jesus?).
When we are buried in the Word, we are keeping it fresh in our minds. We are looking for ways to obey God’s laws and commandment – and ways to not disobey God’s commandments (The Holy Spirit within Us).
If God gave the laws and commandments, He can judge if they have been obeyed or broken (God’s Judgment of Sin).
We need to obey God’s Word when He gives us instructions about worship. God is not interested in religion that is for show. He wants very much to have a relationship with us (Worshiping God the Right Way).
We choose what attitude we are going to exhibit. We want to choose an attitude pleasing to God. Obeying and submitting to Him is pleasing to Him (An Unjust World).
We have to make sure we are obeying God, not following the worldview (Jesus the Liberator).
We are to obey through love (Asking for Prayers).
We have to be willing to work through the tough times as well as the good times. We have to always be willing to lose our lives in His name. We should want to obey and lose our lives rather than disobey and keep it (Asking for Prayers).
The promptings of the Holy Spirit. It does help us to do a better job of obeying God (How Does God Adopt Us?).
We have to remember that God’s Will is that we obey His laws and commandments. We need to focus on our eternal life, not this life. To find how that specifically translate to our lives, we must seek God (Asking for Prayers).
We are called to obey God. That directive starts at conversion, not when we get to Heaven (What Is Purity to a Disciple?).
If we can’t listen to our parents, how are we going to obey God? (Instructing Our Children).
How We Disobey
Before He even created us — before we even disobeyed — God designed the Plan of Salvation. He knew we would mess us and wrote Plan A accordingly (The Foundation of the Church).
We needed redeemed because Adam and Eve chose not to obey God. This allowed sin into the world (What Is Election?).
The second mind-boggling item is how deep God’s love is for us. Even though we willfully disobeyed Him, He doesn’t just turn His back on us. He still loves us (Comprehending Christ’s Love).
It is God’s invitation. We are the ones who disobeyed Him, but He is the one inviting us back into the fold (What Happens When We Repent?).
We disobey God when we don’t follow His laws and commandments. We disobey when He tells us to move somewhere, do something, or don’t do something – and we don’t, don’t, or do (Truth in Freedom).
We benefit when we obey the law, whether we are circumcised or not. If we disobey the law, we can lose what we have (The Nominal Disciple).
If the Israelites wanted to worship in the temple, they needed to worship outside the temple by obeying God’s laws and commandments (How Does Dedication Help Consistency?).
We are called to obey all the laws and commandments, not just the ones we think are still relative (Did Jesus or His Blood Redeem Us?).
We will not incite God’s wrath when we are obeying Him. That means we need to know what His laws and commandments are. To find out what those are, we need to seek God (Old Testament Reasons for Judgment).
We can’t just say we are disciples and not live that way. We have to obey God’s laws and commandments (What Is Religious Freedom).
Denying that we sin is not repentance. Asking God for salvation without changing our character and lifestyle is not repentance. Picking and choosing which of God’s laws and commandments we are going to obey — and which we are going to continue to break — is not repentance (A Sincere Acceptance of Salvation).
If we sin, it is because we have chosen to disobey God. There isn’t anyone else we can blame. It is us (The Enticement of Sin).
God does not commanded us to let people disobey Him — we are to try to help them see His love for them. Our disciple’s job description says that our duties are to proclaim His gospel and make disciples (How Are Disciples Supposed to Treat People?).
Satan is going to try to capture us so that we don’t obey God. If we are disobeying God, he doesn’t have to go after us (Spiritual Freedom).
We like to think that, after conversion, believers won’t be judged. We will if we abandon our profession of faith — if we willfully choose to disobey (Will There Be a Judgment Day?).
Whatever the sin, the root is our sinful nature against our spiritual nature. We are disobeying God’s laws and commandments regardless if we are lying, stealing, or murdering someone (Will Everyone Have a Judgment Day?).
We need help because it is in our human nature to disobey God. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned and Satan has been ruling this world, we’ve chosen to be independent and in control of our own lives (The Holy Spirit within Us).
Completely. If we aren’t completely obeying God, we aren’t completely submitting to God (What Do You Mean All Disciples Won’t Get into Heaven?).
Part of the reason was they nominal disciples was because they were very boastful. Another part was they thought that being God’s chosen people gave them a pass where they didn’t have to obey God’s laws and commandments (The Nominal Disciple).
See Also
We Are Given the Choice
Just as God isn’t a dictator in making us worship Him, He is not a dictator in making us serve Him. He allows us to choose. Oh, there are consequences when we choose to not obey God. It is still our choice (How Are God’s Messengers Supposed to Respond?).
What we get to choose is whether we are going to obey God or not (Will There Be a Judgment Day?).
We need to choose to obey God. The book of our lives will be read one day (The Reward of Faithfulness).
When the trials come, that is going to be our test. That is when we will have to make up our minds if we are truly going to follow God and obey His laws and commandments (Are We Proactive or Reactive?).
Let’s roost on stumbling blocks a second. A stumbling block is anything that tempts someone be disobedient to God. Let’s think of it this way. A trial gets dropped in our lap. Doubts can be a huge stumbling block. Misunderstanding what God’s Word actually says is right up there too. Another toe-stubber is our stubbornness in giving up our pet sin. If we love God’s laws and commandments, we want to obey them. So when the drop occurs, we are ready for it. Not only are we ready for the drop, we know all the nuances associated with the law .
It is normal to have doubts. We tend to think of that as a bad thing. Not having the fear of falling short means it doesn’t mean much to us. I read this to say we aren’t doubting that God is Sovereign Lord. We aren’t doubting our salvation. We are doubting whether we are loving as God does. We are questioning whether we are obeying Him in everything we are supposed to. The intent there is to make sure our relationships with the Sovereign God are strong. God wants that (How Are Disciples Supposed to be Rested?).
Divine Intervention in Obeying
Just as God isn’t a dictator in making us worship Him, He is not a dictator in making us serve Him. He allows us to choose. Oh, there are consequences when we choose to not obey God. It is still our choice (How Are God’s Messengers Supposed to Respond?).
What we get to choose is whether we are going to obey God or not (Will There Be a Judgment Day?).
We need to choose to obey God. The book of our lives will be read one day (The Reward of Faithfulness).
When the trials come, that is going to be our test. That is when we will have to make up our minds if we are truly going to follow God and obey His laws and commandments (Are We Proactive or Reactive?).
Let’s roost on stumbling blocks a second. A stumbling block is anything that tempts someone be disobedient to God. Let’s think of it this way. A trial gets dropped in our lap. Doubts can be a huge stumbling block. Misunderstanding what God’s Word actually says is right up there too. Another toe-stubber is our stubbornness in giving up our pet sin. If we love God’s laws and commandments, we want to obey them. So when the drop occurs, we are ready for it. Not only are we ready for the drop, we know all the nuances associated with the law .
It is normal to have doubts. We tend to think of that as a bad thing. Not having the fear of falling short means it doesn’t mean much to us. I read this to say we aren’t doubting that God is Sovereign Lord. We aren’t doubting our salvation. We are doubting whether we are loving as God does. We are questioning whether we are obeying Him in everything we are supposed to. The intent there is to make sure our relationships with the Sovereign God are strong. God wants that (How Are Disciples Supposed to be Rested?).
Divine Intervention in Obeying
Jesus accused Satan of being a murderer and a liar. Well, he did murder mankind when he succeeded in getting Adam and Eve to disobey. We are spiritually dead. He accomplished it through a lie (Acting Free).
Jesus glorified God in all He did. He not only obeyed God’s laws and commandments, but He also taught his disciples — and us — to do so also. He did this by submitting to God’s Will, even when it cost Him His life (What Was Jesus’ Mission (Part 1)).
God’s grace does not preclude Him from requiring us to obey His laws and commandments. It doesn’t mean He just have to give us the good stuff and not require anything from us. God is not the God of entitlement (Will There Be a Judgment Day?).
God does not owe us anything — even if we are made in His image. We disobeyed Him. We let sin into this world. He didn’t have to design the plan of salvation to restore our relationships with Him (Watch the Company We Keep).