Obedience

Obedience. That word doesn't really convey fun, happy thoughts to me. Usually when I think about obedience, I think about begrudgingly doing something that I don't want to do. It reminds me of trudging upstairs to clean my room or weed the garden when my parents asked me to. Not exactly the most glorious and exciting parts of childhood. And being obedient in my faith connotes giving something up (chocolate during lent) or going to church.

I think I have been unfair to obedience. While it can certainly be a challenge to walk in the ways the Lord has commanded, true obedience brings freedom. When I think of times that I was being double-minded or keeping one part of my life separate from my walk with the Lord, I realize that I was not enjoying life. Doing something I thought I would enjoy resulted in unhappiness and difficult relationships.

We are created to serve something, whether that be God or our earthly desires.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Romans 6:15-18

Even though there may be some temporary sacrifices involved, the Lord blesses our obedience, and I would much rather choose the path that leads to righteousness than the one that leads to death!

If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.

Deuteronomy 28:1