Obedience Matters
Who or what is your master?
Verse of the Day
‘Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.’
Today’s Devotional
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.'” (Matthew 7:21-23 )
Jesus is using very strong language to teach us the importance and magnitude of “actually doing the will of the Father.” Are we obeying this teaching of Jesus as He is telling us how important obedience is?
“Obedience” is a word that doesn’t sit well with many people. Perhaps because our culture likes to make us think that we are our own master, therefore we should have no one to be obedient to.
If you believe in the Creator God, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, then let me break it to you as gently as I can. You are not your own master. Full stop. Your life is not your own. Jeremiah 10:23 says, “I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.” First Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” If we belong to God, then shouldn’t we pursue obedience to Him?
If the thought of obedience rubs us the wrong way, then it may be time to ask ourselves who our master really is. Because we will be obedient to something.
Am I my own lord and master? Do I consistently obey my own desires?
Have I made the world my master?
Is my bank account my master?
Am I ruled by time, the clock, and my productivity in the time I have?
Is the opinion of others what is ruling my life?
Is fear, worry, or anxiety running the show? If so, are they my lord?
Is God my true master? If so, is that evident in the fruit of my life? Am I obedient to His teachings? Do I even know what His teachings are?
These are tough questions, friends. Because the truth is ALWAYS in the fruit. Whether we want to admit it or not. Other than God, every “ruler” or “master” from the list above (and many others) is an oppressive ruler. We can never win or get ahead with anything or anyone on the throne of our lives other than God.
If we are going to be ruled by something, then how do we place God on the throne of our lives? Jesus tells us the answer to that is obedience. “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:10-11) Jesus even tells us that He is obedient to the Father.
If you notice, Jesus is also telling us that obedience brings joy. He’s telling us to obey so that we will be filled with joy overflowing. David says the same thing in Psalm 51:12, just in the reverse order. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” And David adds a simple prayer as part of his statement.
“God, make me willing to obey you.”
This is one of the most powerful prayers we can pray. We can logically agree that God should be on the throne of our lives, and that we should be obedient to Him. But in the moment, that’s not generally our instinct. We want to love God and give Him our time, but the alarm doesn’t go off so we don’t start our day with Him, and then we are so busy after work that He never gets any of our time. We want to love others, but when the guy cuts us off in traffic, we lose our temper and say things to or about another one of God’s kids that probably doesn’t qualify as loving.
I don’t know about you, but I need God’s help every single day for the willingness to obey Him and for His power to carry that out. Because most of the time, the acts of obedience are not what I want to do. I had a situation yesterday where I knew what the right thing was to do, and I simply did NOT want to do it. So I prayed this simple prayer from David. And God was faithful and helped me.
There is renewal and joy in our lives when we put the proper Person on the throne of our lives and consistently obey Him. God says it’s true. Jesus echoed the same message. The Holy Spirit is here to help us to carry it out. Maybe it’s time we ask ourselves who we are obeying. And ask God for help each day for the willingness to obey. Because the last thing any of us wants to hear is Jesus saying, “I never knew you.”
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Based on the fruit of your life, who is your master most of the time?
How have you seen the reverse of Psalm 51:12 – the lack of joy that comes from disobedience to God?
Have you had joy with obedience?
How can you put God on the throne of your life today?
Are you willing to ask God for a willingness to obey Him today?
Do you believe Jesus when He says that “Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.”? Do your actions and obedience to the teachings of Jesus align with what you say you believe?