How To Obey God

How To Obey God

So how do we obey God exactly? Well first, we obey God by obeying the gospel. You see, the first step in your decision to stop having your own way, and start doing things God's way, is to come to salvation God's way. Many teachers today will tell you that there are many different ways to God, but what they don't tell you is that what they are really saying is "You can do it your own way, you don't have to do it God's way."

This is why God hates works-based religion so much. God hates religion you say? How so? God hates religion because religion is man's attempt to get to God in his own way, by his own efforts. This is only the continuation of the self-centered way of operation. Instead, God has come to us in Jesus Christ, and God wants us to come to Jesus to have eternal life. This is God's way. It's his way because God himself did the work, not us, God himself set the example of submission and obedience, and God needs us to be willing to surrender our own will, and be willing to do it His way.

Now God's redemption is far more than what I just laid out above, but that pretty much gets to the heart of the issue. You see, God calls you a sinner not because you have made some bad decisions, and did some wrong things. God calls you a sinner because you are a little Lucifer.

"That sounds a little extreme," you may be thinking, but you see, you naturally want to have things your way, and not God's way. If that was allowed to blossom, and nothing hindered you, you would become a little tyrant who wants to rule the universe, and have everyone serve you. You don't believe me? Spend some time in a kindergarten classroom, and you will see all the tyrants, demanding their own way, and only submitting out of threats of punishment or loss of privilege.

So the problem, you see, is not really that you did some wrong things, and now you must pay the penalty or you will suffer eternal punishment. The problem is that you are a sinner. You are a potential Lucifer that must either submit to God, or have your satanic nature blossom into its fullness. It is that Lucifer in you that Christ had to die for.

So you do it God's way, or not at all, and God's way is that you believe in Jesus Christ, and receive his free gift of eternal life. Why is it free? Well because God is gracious first of all, but also because it is something that God did in Christ, and not something that you can do on your own. Your act of submission to God is exactly what God needs from you. But it certainly is not cheap, because the obedience that caused you to get saved God's way, must continue in doing God's will,

God can offer you salvation, and be right in doing so, because ultimately, the issue is going to be whether salvation is going to come from God, or from you. If it comes from God, then you are not trying to take the throne, and that means you don't want to go play Satan forever and ever. If it is from you. If it is based on your achievements, and your efforts, then it is nothing more than an expression of self-reliance, and self-exaltation...its you having your own way once again.

That's why the Apostle Paul said: "For by grace are you saved, through faith, and this is NOT OF YOURSELVES. It is the gift of God so that NONE MAY BOAST." It's all right there in the Bible. Not your way, but God's way. It is called "The obedience of faith" in Romans 1:5.

So we obey God by believing the gospel according to God's way...but then the Christian life is also an expression of this idea that we must do things God's way, and not our way. This means we must live a life of obedience as Christians.

Now I have some bad news for you Christians who think that you can live in disobedience and still be saved. You can't. "Why?" you say. Because again, the real issue is whether we desire God's way, or our own way. That's why the Bible says things like "He who is born of God does not practice sin" in 1 John 3:9. Why don't we practice sin? Because when we do, we are acting like the Devil. In fact. 1 John 3:8 says just that: "He who does what is sinful is of the devil."

The entire Christian life, in a nutshell, is learning to give up ourselves, and live out the decision to live in harmony with others by submitting to God. This is what love is all about...you put God before yourself and you put others before yourself. You think about what they want, and not just about what you want. You desire to live in harmony with them, instead of wanting to subvert, rule over, be better, or take advantage of them.

Obedience is also what the Scriptures are all about. Some people like to turn the Bible into a science textbook, and promote biblical scientific theories, or perhaps a history book, and argue for some sort of exactness in regards to historical events. Others just like to spend their time picking the Bible apart, and come up with all sorts of interesting new ideas and approaches to how the Bible was written, or when it was written, or whether what it says is really true or not. Some people just like to memorize the Bible, and then astound us with their ability to quote entire sections of Scripture.

But the Bible was written for a much more practical purpose. The Bible was written so that we might know the will of God, and DO IT. The Bible exists as the handbook on how one is to obey God, and the Bible can only be truly understood as one seeks to obey what it says, and put it into practice.

There are scores of denominations, each with their own set of beliefs about what the Bible really says. However, you will not fail to know what you need to know to follow Christ if you approach the Scriptures with the sincere desire to obey God, and do what he tells you to do.

So the choice is yours. Like C.S Lewis said, "you can say to God Thy will be done, or God will say to you thy will be done". It's as simple as that. If you put God on the throne, and come to Him in His way, you will have eternal life. But some would not have it God's way. They would rather join the chorus with Lucifer in Milton's Paradise Lost and say "Better to Reign in hell than serve in heaven." And if that's what you want, that is what you will get.

Just think, we live in a universe where everyone gets exactly what they want. That sounds like God is giving us a pretty good deal to me.

Rated:E Now that we know what obedience is, how do we practice it?by: Norksquad (E: Everyone)
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