163 OBEY? BUT?
163 OBEY? BUT?
1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1Pe 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1Pe 2:15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
God has, through His word and His servants commanded them that love Him to obey Him. When we obey Him, we will do whatever He tells us to; that is how we show God and everyone else that we love and serve God. He also commands us to obey all who have the rule over us. Hebrews 13:7
Not doing this tells God and mankind two things; first that we are liars and second that we really don’t love and serve God. Our actions tell people what is in our hearts but our mouths tell people what is in our heads.
Many professing Christians speak from their heads; telling people that they are Christians and are going to church, reading their bibles, praying and are doing a whole lot of things that they think that religious people are supposed to do.
Jesus angered the religious world that he grew up in by living in obedience to His father, God, His religious leaders and His government of that day and then pointing out their lack of obedience to the one that they called their God.
I see today a religious people that, as long as they appear religious and fit in with the people that go to their church and their church’s doctrine, believe themselves in obedience to God and then live their lives fitting in with the people around them.
Most of the people around them are ‘foolish’ according to 1 Peter 2:15 and are doing things for selfish reasons. [I once used to speed to keep up with the flow of traffic, thinking that I was doing it for the safety of everyone around me but the law commands me to obey the speed laws for the safety of the people around me!]
I was thinking with my head and using thoughts that would satisfy me rather than God or the laws. This head thinking translated into me convincing myself that a lot of things that were illegal, immoral or just plain rude were alright with God if I could justify it with reasoning like safety, material gains or thoughts that it was just not important enough to God to matter.
I have also heard that all you have to do is believe and you will be alright because no-one can be perfect and keep all God’s laws. I used that excuse myself, many times in the past and it satisfied my conscious; until I read;
Phi 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
I realized that I could live for God through Christ because of love.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
As Christians, we do not have to worry about rules and regulations; all we have to worry about is obeying the one we love. If that is God, then we will obey all the rules and regulations because it will be from the heart and not the head.
Take a lesson from that vehicle in front of you that is only going the speed limit. That might be a Christian that you are tailgating and God is watching what you do to those that love Him and will get back to you at some point in time to repay you for your actions, no matter who or what you think you are.
