“If you love me keep my commandments.” John 14:15
“OBEDIENCE” – Such a difficult word! From a child’s perspective, it is very easy to have fun, play, and dance, but very difficult to listen to an elder’s advice, especially if it’s something like studying or going to church. The same applies to adults reading this article, but maybe in a different way. We like to gossip, overthink, and be in dismay: constantly worrying about finances or health. We get disturbed when we see others prospering while we are not growing. We may not be worshiping idols literally, but we often idolize petty things, such as work. Of course, we might not want to do any of these things, but the situations and people we encounter in this world automatically bring out the worst in us because we tend to dwell in the flesh rather than in His Word. God knows our innate selfishness and sin, yet out of His goodness, He calls us to obey Him.
John 14:15 says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” It doesn’t say that keeping God’s commandments makes us love Him or makes God love us more. Rather, loving God will make us keep His commandments. If a parent has two children, and one is more obedient than the other, that won’t make the parent love the disobedient child any less. This principle applies to every relationship. For those who haven’t yet become parents, you love all your siblings equally but may like one better because of a stronger connection. That person listens to you, offers a hand even when not asked, and you enjoy and treasure this healthy relationship. You will make every effort to never hurt this person in any way. You will act in obedience and zeal out of love to preserve this relationship.
When I accept Christ, I become a new creation. I am not saying this of my own accord. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Does Nikitha (that’s my name) look any different after accepting Christ? No. She will have the same weight unless she exercises. She will have the same complexion and long nose that God blessed her with at birth. She will keep forgetting and misplacing things unless she attempts to be mindful. So, what changes? Her physical appearance and feelings stay the same. Her body and soul remain the same. However, her spirit changes.
Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Isn’t this verse beautiful and powerful, all at the same time? When I accept Christ, the old Nikitha is gone, and her spirit is newly created, similar to Jesus’. Romans 8:11 tells us that the resurrection spirit dwells in us. So, good and godly things must emanate from us. Our body and soul must align with this newly created spirit in us. And this can only be achieved through obeying God. The most amazing part is that the Spirit facilitates and expedites this process. Our ability to love God is a response to His love for us, not the other way around. Similarly, our obedience to His commandments is a way of expressing our love for Him, not a way to make Him love us more. You can never go wrong when you stay in tune with the Spirit. Just look at the following examples:
In Acts 1, we see Jesus instructing His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the “promise of the Father,” emphasizing the essential role of the Holy Spirit in empowering them for their mission. Without the Holy Spirit, Peter denied Jesus, and all the others deserted Him and fled when they saw their teacher persecuted. It was only through the power of the Holy Spirit that they were propelled in a new direction to carry out God’s mission. Fast forward to the present, and Christianity makes up about one-third of the world’s religions. Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.” Thank God for the people whose motto was to make Christ known to all. These people were obedient to the Spirit, and thus, such a large impact can be seen throughout the world. As Matthew 9:38 states, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” There is still much work to be done, and God is raising a generation that is faithful and obedient to Him. Jesus is the ultimate example of obedience, and we are supposed to imitate Christ. We can only become like Him when we walk by the Spirit, not gratifying the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-22).
In today’s world, rebellion is often glorified or seen as a form of individuality or freedom, while obedience can sometimes be viewed as restrictive or outdated. While fear may motivate others to obey, for us Christians, our motivation to obey God is rooted purely in love. We love God because He first loved us. He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son for us so that we could have eternal life. And what are we doing with ourselves when Christ’s sole purpose in coming to earth was to save us?
Are we depending on the flesh and giving way to anger, greed, lust, envy, drunkenness, or gluttony? The aforementioned sins can be very innocent and vary in gravity, but anything that takes our focus off God is sin. God has equipped us with everything we need to lead a blessed life through Jesus (John 15:5) and the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:27).
What can I do to be more obedient?
To be more obedient, we must cultivate a relationship with God, just as we do with others. In human relationships, we take the time to get to know the person, understanding what they like and dislike, and we adjust our behaviour accordingly. Similarly, with God, we cannot have a relationship outside of His Word. We come to know Him through the Scriptures and commune with Him through prayer. And He is so awesome that when we take strides to come to Him, He runs to us, giving us the Holy Spirit, which enables us to obey Him— that is, to fulfil God’s commandments—not by relying on mere rule-keeping, but through the transformative power of the Spirit. (Romans 12:2)
