Why is obedience important?

Have you ever struggled to obey God? Why do you think that is? Is it because you need to fast more? Is it because you need to pray more? Or is it because you don’t read the Bible enough?

When I was younger me and my family went to Disneyland, and we went on a ride that spins you around a lot. After the ride my mom felt sick and she needed to go to the toilet to throw up. Because it was a ladies toilet and I couldn’t go in, she sat me by a bench and said wait here until I come back. I thought she was going to be 20 minutes or so, but she was there for 2 hours and she still hadn’t come back.

I was only 12, I had no money or phone to contact her so I started to get scared. What was my mom doing?! Maybe she forgot about me, maybe she went on another ride, maybe she came out of the toilet and I didn’t see her. I wanted to leave the bench and go look for her. I wanted to disobey what she told me to do.

Then I reminded myself that my mom loves me. She wouldn’t abandon me. She has hasn’t forgotten about me. There must be a reason why she is taking so long. So instead of leaving the bench to go look for her, I waited for her and finally she came back.

In Romans 4 Paul is talking about Abraham and his faith. He says was Abraham counted righteous because he got circumcised or after. Circumcision was an act that God required from Jewish men. Usually, they had it done before they were 8 days old, but God asked this of Abraham when he was a lot older in order for the covenant to be established. This was a big deal for Abraham; it was something God was asking Abraham to obey Him in.

And Paul says, (I’m paraphrasing) the way Abraham got circumcised was through faith. Abraham’s circumcision didn’t count as righteous; it was his faith. That part might sound complicated, but what Paul is saying is, Abraham obeyed God because of his faith. He didn’t obey and then he had faith. He faith to obey God, faith to get circumcised even if it was going to be painful. That means obedience is a bi-product of faith!

I look back at that time my mom told me to wait at the bench and I realised it was because I knew my mom loved me, and because I trusted her, that I could obey. And it is when we exercise our faith in God, that we learn to trust Him; we learn to obey Him. We disobey Him, when we don’t trust Him, when we trust ourselves. Obedience comes through faith.

It is important to understand this because as God’s watchmen, He will ask of you things that don’t always make sense. Maybe He will ask you to pray for that person who is always mean to you, maybe He will ask you to be-friend that bully, maybe He will ask you to invite that person who says they are an atheist. God might ask your obedience in areas you don’t understand, but how we obey is through faith. It is when we understand that God loves us so much and whatever He asks of us, we trust Him.

Obedience comes by faith.