Rambling today about obedience.
- I’ve mulled recently a thought saying something like this: “I think” should never come before “God says”.
- The bigger question looms over that statement: Do we plan to obey God?
- For someone who is not a believer, of course the stated purpose doesn’t involve obeying God. But many non-believers at least include God in the way they think.
- If you DON’T believe in God, but have certain beliefs about God that include forgiveness or heaven, you should ask yourself how you form those beliefs. Would you consider finding out what God says about those things, and would you consider changing your beliefs to fit what the Bible teaches?
- For believers, the challenge must pierce our souls: do we plan to obey God?
- Will we shape our thinking, decisions, struggles against sin from a place of fitting God into what WE want Him to be, or will we allow Scripture (God’s eternal Word) to bend our knee in worship and mold our every thought and action?
- Some believers seem content to disobey clear teachings of Scripture. Please understand God’s grace doesn’t exist as some cheap out, always there for our convenience.
- Romans 6:1-2 says this: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
- No believer will achieve perfection, but God laces the promise of victory into a statement like the one found in Romans 6:2: “died to sin”.
- Yes, we should be DEAD to sin, hating it, fighting to kill it (Colossians 3:5), not welcoming it then assuming or worse demanding God will forgive it.
- A specific challenge: has a specific sinful thought or action developed which calls for specific repentance? Do you think or behave in a certain way not pinned specifically to Bible truth?
- If so, God IS gracious. He will display His love and patience again and again. But we must show our fight. Repentance (turning from sin) means way more than simply feeling sorry we got caught.
- We must show God our desire and intention to change! We must come to Him with a plan to obey!