O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E

“Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. 

Doing exactly as the Lord commands, doing it happily. 

Action is the key, do it immediately, joy you will receive. “

I loved to belt out this song as a child in church, and all the more when I was chosen to hold the poster boards with lyrics written in different colored markers!

“O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E. 

Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.”

The Lord’s desire for his people is that they would be holy- set apart. When I was a kid, “set apart” meant no drinking, dancing, movie theaters or face cards. Christian liberty means we can have differing convictions about things such as these, but abstaining from them doesn’t make us holy. Positionally, if you are in Christ, you have already been made holy. In Matthew 4, we read about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Here at the beginning of his ministry, if Jesus had given into the temptations of Satan, our story would be quite different. Yet, with each taunt from the enemy, Jesus refuted Satan with the word of God. In every way, Jesus was tempted just as we are, yet he remained without sin. He lived the life we couldn’t, died the death we deserved, took upon himself our sin, clothes us in His righteousness and lives to intercede for us. This is the gospel. We are saved by God’s grace!

Not saved by works, but saved to walk in the good works God has planned for us, we are now called to live lives of holiness in light of our holy standing before Him. What he calls us to, he empowers us to do. With the Holy Spirit in us we can put to death the deeds of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. More and more our lives will be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. “If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well.”

Church, by the power of His Spirit, we can increasingly walk in O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E to all he has commanded us to. Have you been saved by his grace? If not, what stands in your way? If you have, what sin is he calling you to put to death? What fruit of the Spirit is he developing in your life?

Satan will continue to tempt us. It’s his way. But the enemy of our souls has nothing to offer us except stones. Jesus offers us a better way. It’s the way of the cross, and it will involve suffering but it leads to an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for us until that glorious day.

Until then, rest in the knowledge that the One who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. He holds you fast.

- Natalie