Obedience

Psalm 119:10-11 - I seek you with all my heart; do not let stray from your commands.

The Bible instructs us to seek Christ, with our entire heart.  Not most of it, not part of it, ALL of it.  Many people believe that if we are seeking Christ with all our heart that we won't have room in there for people in our lives.  This belief is very untrue, and exactly the opposite of truth.  If we are seeking Christ with our entire heart, we actually increase the amount of love and the capacity for love within us.  Just as with each a child a mother bears, her love grows for her children and does not become divided among them, Christ increases our love and gives us much more love to spread to those around us!



Philippians 2:12 - Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

Not only should we seek Him with all of our heart, we should obey Him even when we do not think he is with us.  Obeying by going to church and praying is awesome, however, He wants more than that from us.  Going to church, obeying Him while we are in His house, that is wonderful!  Though, are you obeying Him when you are at home, alone or with friends?  Are you truly obedient to Him on days other than Sunday?

Obedience is the area I need the most work.  I am slowly trying to make the changes in my behaviors so that I am being obedient to Christ.  I know that even with the changes I have made, I am still far from the kind of obedience that is expected of me.  Knowing this only makes me strive to do better, to be more and more obedient. 

It can be difficult to changes areas in our lives that have always been a certain way.  Changing things about ourselves that we don't think is a problem.  This requires faith, a very strong faith, and trust in God.  There were many areas in my life I didn't think were a problem, but I am seeing now just how wrong that thought was.  I was wanting to keep my own desires, just the ones that weren't hurting anyone, and I would still be okay.  Nope.  Didn't work like that. 

If you told your child not to do something, what happens if they did it anyway?  Time-out, spanking, favorite toy taken away?  When our children do not listen, they are punished.  Well, God does the same to His children.  Our punishments don't come in the same form, but we get them.  When we do bad things, bad things happen to us.  When we do good things, good things happen.

Ever hear the saying "bad things happen to good people"?  Ever hear the opposite to that, "good things happen to bad people"?  Both of these statements are very true, but let me explain why I think it happens.

When we are obedient, we can have a good life!  Happiness and joy surrounds us, because we know we are living the way He has asked us to.  And the good things keep coming.  Though, bad things can still happen.  You could lose a child, lose a job, lose a friend.  These things happen.  This is because God has a purpose for it, some reason that it will be used for good somewhere down the road. 

Now, when we live in sin, we are surrounding ourselves with bad.  We are not doing what God asks us to do.  Though, good things can still happen to us.  Many bad people get wealth, amazing health, families, whatever good you see in their life.  Though, all this good they are getting is likely because of all the bad they are doing.  These things are not coming from God, they are a result of their own actions. 

One major difference in these two situations is that the obedient are almost always much happier than others.  Even though the other person may have more money and more stuff, they are not filled with the love and joy that the other is.  And, coming from both sides of this, I have never been happier than when I feel like God is surrounding me and my life and that I am doing what He wants me to do!