Obedience

I'm doing a topical study on Obedience in Scripture to help me grasp the Bible's view (God's view) on the subject. What I've found is that the Bible talks a lot about obedience. God places a very high premium on obedience! I'm not sure why that suprises me, but I am amazed at all the passages about obedience. One thing that is really being hammered home to me as I study is the reality that I have the choice to obey or not. All humans have that choice. In looking at my relationship with my heavenly father, I see that I can choose to obey or not. Then I contrast that with my relationship to my own children and the same is true. They can choose to disobey my rules. Of course, their disobedience causes me grief and I know often that the natural consequences of their disobedience will bring them pain. I also know that I must often inflict some kind of painful consequence to their blatant disobedience and I dread that. It's like I can see God feeling the same regret over our poor choices. It must grieve his heart terribly to see his children, his creation, those that he loves choosing destruction for themselves and laughing in his face as they make that choice. As a parent of two little individuals I have experienced that heartbreak. That warning of, "No, No, Please don't walk on that or touch that and then the resulting fall or burn that causes such pain." Of course, the reverse is true. My heart is so lifted in joy when one of the children chooses to obey the first time or to finish a task without being asked and with a smile on their face. In those moments I am delighted and proud and grateful. Those moments are rewarded with praise and usually some sort of special "treat". I have also found that when I spend the most time with the children developing a loving relationship, the more they are likely to obey. The same is true of my relationship to God. The more time I spend getting to know Him, the more likely I am to obey his commands, no matter how difficult it is. Charlotte Mason has some thoughts on Obedience that I really enjoy and I will share those soon. For now, a good chapter to study and contrast the rewards of Obedience versus the consequences of disobedience is Deuteronomy 28. Make two columns and compare the rewards to the consequences. Just some food for thought.

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