The Heart of Obedience

0:00The Heart of Obedience by Carrie Willis, if you love me, obey my commandments, John chapter 14 verse 15. Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. That line and the first notes of this song are forever embedded in my brain. It's a song we came home from vacation Bible school singing on repeat. In a way, it's a good kind of an earworm to have, but what is obedience and what are the commandments we are to obey? My little brothers came home from Sunday school with this saying, obedience is doing it, doing it right away and happily. They would say the last part with great enthusiasm. Scripture directs children to obey their parents in the Lord, and to everyone else, we are told to simply obey his commandments. Too often we think of obedience only in terms of our actions, what we do or don't do, but let me use this illustration. I post the question to a set

1:02of twins in my Sunday school class. Your parents ask you to clean your rooms. If Maddie grumbles and complains, but cleans her room, but Wade says, okay, then goes outside and plays. Who has obeyed? Much discussion and reading of Scripture helped them decide that neither one obeyed. As parents, of course, we want our children to obey without giving us grief, but we also want their rooms cleaned. So sometimes we have the outlook of as long as it gets done, I don't care how bad your attitude is. But God knows our hearts. He knows if we are being obedient despite what our outward actions show. Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7 reminds us obedience begins in our hearts and minds, not our actions. Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 8 through 9 hits the nail on the head about our motivation. The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.

2:06Who really knows how bad it is, but I the Lord search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards according to what their actions deserve. The Lord searches our hearts for the motive that drives our action, or lack thereof. This past year, I've been focusing my study on obedience, not through our actions, but by our state of being, the attitude and posture of our hearts. I call this study the bee attitudes of the Christian walk. More than our actions, he wants our attitudes to be aligned with his commandments. Most people can obey the big ones, the 10 commandments, but that does not make them obedient to the one who wrote them. Being obedient, however, requires an understanding of the greatest commandment. Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important.

3:11Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. Matthew chapter 22 verses 37 through 40. The very nature of obedience is love, and outpouring from the depths of our hearts. So it is important what we do, but most important is how and why we do it. We tend to think of obeying the obvious, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet. Sometimes it's hard to remember all the do's and don'ts. The beauty of salvation is that we have been given an advocate, a helper to remind us of and guide us in the path of righteousness. This brings me to a final thought, one that's been shaping my own walk. If we have invited him to live in us and we are abiding in him, we've made the first step toward obedience. He's given us his word to understand the challenge and blessing of obedience. I encourage you to join me in studying scripture on how he wants us to be. Be still, be kind and

4:18compassionate, be loving and patient, be joyful, hopeful, and grateful to name only a few. If you would like to read more about the be attitudes of the Christian walk, you can go to my blog, Soul Water. Questions for reflection. Do you struggle with being outwardly obedient while sinning in your heart? Not a trick question most of us do. How can you move from obedience and action only to having a heart attitude of surrender to the one who loves us enough to want our devotion? Because he knows what is best for us. Hint. Psalm 119 verse 11 says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.