“Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” Deut. 5:29…………
“You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.” Deut. 5:33………
“Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’” Deut. 6:3…………
“And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.” Deut. 6:24…………..
“If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;” Isaiah 1:19-21
(underlining added to verses above)………….
I don’t know about you, but sometimes obedience just seems to hard, so unfair, like drudgery, like a constant battle against the flesh, like God just won’t let up on me, like no matter which way I turn, there’s something else God wants me to do in obedience to Him, like God’s a tough tather always being stern with me, ever reminding me I need to obey Him, obey Him, obey Him, like the word obedience is just being flung in my face over and again, like now that I belong to God forever through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ why can’t I just sit back, kick up my feet, forget all this obedience stuff, and just get on with happily ever after? If you can relate to this at all, please don’t miss what I missed for so very long!
Obedience comes with two indescribably amazingly awesome blessings! First, the more I obey God, the closer I am to Him. That’s right. The more we obey Him, the closer to Him we can be! Our relationship with Him can grow and grow and grow, and obedience is fundamental to this. Knowing we’re pleasing Him when we obey Him can be outright exhilarating, knowing that we’re honoring our Father in heaven for those of us who follow Jesus. Knowing that we bring Him joy and pleasure in our obedience, knowing that as we honor Him He honors us, drawing ever closer to us as we draw nearer to Him, our intimacy with Him can grow and grow – and grow! Our obedience bears the fruit of increased intimacy with the Lord!
Second, our obedience to the Lord bears the fruit of HIS BLESSINGS! God isn’t a mean, awful, terrible, wicked, selfish father who simply wants to boss around his kids telling us what to do all the time and spanking us when we mess up for no other reason to show off who’s boss. God LOVES US, and God wants TO BLESS US, and God wants us in HIS FOREVER FELLOWSHIP THROUGH CHRIST, and God BLESSES US WHEN WE OBEY HIM!
Look at the verses above! What do you see? Over and again, God makes clear obedience bears blessings! Just like disobedience bears awful consequences, so does obedience bear wonderful, delicious, blessed fruit! The biggest blessing of all being intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ!!!!
Christ is Lord, and we MUST obey God, that’s for sure. But let’s not fail to realize that obedience, though certainly hard on the flesh, bears the bountiful fruit of beautiful blessings from the Lord!