As I was biking down a road last week – one lined by autumn-colored trees and a nice, wide shoulder specifically designed for bicycles – my thoughts turned to obeying God. Not for any specific reason but just because my mind wanders with the Holy Spirit sometimes.
John said, “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him” (1 John 2:3-6).
I’ve always thought about this as a kind of, “If you don’t obey God’s commands, then you’re just sunk as a Christian.” But obedience goes a lot further than acting as a precursor to being able to say that you love God, or even proof that you love God.
True obedience doesn’t come from a sense of duty. Nor does it have to come from fear of being punished if you mess up. It also can’t stem from a desire to earn your salvation or prove to yourself or others that you love God.
True obedience is a heart stance. Disobedience effectively says, “I don’t consider you or your commandments to be of enough value to be worth following at this moment.” The heart set on obedience values God and His words enough to obey them, even when it’s hard. A heart not set on obedience will trade the commands for whatever it values more than God – the approval of people, an easier road to walk, its own logic or sense of justice, or whatever it loves most.
This is not a post to tell you that you should be reading your Bible more or to try and make you feel guilty about not following all of God’s commands to a T. The trouble is that you can follow all of God’s commands through good discipline and still be disobedient in your heart because you’re obeying for all the wrong reasons.
The first step in obeying God’s commands – in loving God in this way – is to simply grow the value in your heart for God and His words (the Bible and other things that He has spoken). Growing Him as the most valuable thing in our hearts – the pearl of great price that is worth selling all to buy (Matthew 13:45-46) – will also grow our value for His commands and help us choose His commands when other loves try to pop up and distract us from what matters most.
“Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil” (Psalm 119:133).
