50 Days to More: Day Twenty-Nine

50 Days to More

A Seven Week Campaign to Begin 2018

Week 5: Cultivating the Habit of Hourly Obedience

Day Twenty-Nine (2/4/18): God Requires Obedience
Recommended Reading: Colossians 3:1-17

If you have had a relationship with Jesus for any length of time, chances are that God has asked you to do something. The tug we feel from the Holy Spirit in certain situations is unmistakable. It might have been sowing a large financial seed into a particular ministry or giving an encouraging word to someone around us. Even if you can’t recall a specific time where you heard God ask you to do something, there are still things he requires of you.

“Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.” John 14:24 (NLT)

This verse came directly from the mouth of Jesus. He is commanding us to obey him out of love. Did you know that obedience is the only thing that God ever requires of us? There are many things that he requests of us and suggests that we do (or don’t do!). The Lord may present us with a few options in certain situations and leave the decision up to us.

But obedience is always--in every circumstance--absolutely required. Obedience is the requirement for a covenant relationship, and this is the exact kind of relationship we should be seeking with The Lord.

This is something that a lot of new Christians struggle with in the beginning of their relationship with Jesus. Those of us who are newly saved are used to living one way, and God asks us to obey him by living a totally different life that looks nothing like we’ve ever known.

It’s a common misconception that the Bible is merely a list of rules that God made in order to keep us from having fun. However, the Bible and God’s intention is so much different than that. Let’s look at John 14:24 again. Jesus said, “Anyone who doesn’t love me won’t obey me.” In other words, “If you love me, you will obey me.” This verse is the key to being obedient to the Word of God.

Obedience needs to be the response we have to God’s love for us. Being obedient simply because God asks us to will not work forever. We may be able to listen and obey him for a while, but there will be a time where our human weakness takes over and we become disobedient once again.

If we truly fall in love with God for who he is, we begin to see ourselves the way he sees us. When we love him, we are able to understand why he asks us to live pure lives full of love. We begin to see the bigger picture--which is so beautiful and intended to give us rich, full lives!

Have you honestly fallen in love with the person of Jesus Christ? Loving Jesus doesn’t mean that we go to church or volunteer at the homeless shelter. While those things are great, they have to stem from our love of Christ. When we build a relationship with Jesus, being obedient to him is naturally the next thing we desire to do. We all need to get to a place where we happily, willingly, and wholeheartedly do this one thing that God requires of us.  Although we may still mess up from time to time, that foundation of love for the Father will always cause us to run back into his arms.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 (ESV)

Compiled by Christine Thompson & Meredith Hobbs
Taken from the Sermon Series “7 Steps to One Thousand Times More”
By Pastor Timothy Coats
Family First Church - Spring Hill, Florida