Our obedience to the Lord helps us worship His holiness and strengthens our witness for His redeeming grace.
Psalm 112:1 (ESV): Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!
1 Peter 2:12 (NLT): Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
The Bible gives us two major reasons for this:
GOD WANTS US TO OBEY HIM.
- to learn humility and obedience to His will, as Jesus did in His earthly life (Luke 2:51);
- to witness and testify to non-believers, also as Jesus did in His earthly life (Acts 1:8).
Jesus tell us that if we love Him, we should obey Him (John 15:4 NLT: “You are my friends if you do what I command.”).
BLESSED THROUGH OBEDIENCE
THE PSALMIST reminds us (Psalm 119:119) that he *loves* to obey the Lord’s commands and that those who are obedient are “blessed” (Psalm 112:1).
By obeying our Lord, we show an unbelieving world redemption is available for them.
When we are disobedient in our personal lives, we undermine our witness and place an unnecessary stumbling block in our neighbors’ way.
Let us strive to be more Christlike and rejoice in so doing!
PRAYER
Our Lord and Savior, we give You all the praise, honor, and glory. You have shown us undeserved love and grace, mercy and compassion. Help us, O Lord, to show love and grace, mercy and compassion toward others, as You have commanded us, so we can reach the lost and give them hope, as others in Christ have done for us. We raise this prayer in the redeeming name of Jesus. AMEN
Ward's Words | BY WARD PIMLEY 