1 Samuel 15: 22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Lev 26: 3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.
Deut 28: Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God:
John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.”
Romans 2: God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
Basically, obedience is the key to success in this life and in the life to come as it relates to God. If you are not truly inclined to obey and making at least some progress in this area in your life, despite perhaps many failures, then you may be self-deceived. Jesus tells us that we do not love Him if we do not obey Him. His disciples hear and obey His word. For me this has been a long journey with many failures, but I have seen his love and forgiveness the whole way, and I now have very little desire to sin.
Obedience is the key to receiving blessings from the Lord. Deuteronomy 28 gives an exhaustive list of all the blessings that come from obedience (v 1-14) and a different horrifying list of things that may happen when we disobey the laws of God. Now thankfully the New Testament tells us in Gal 3:13 that we are “redeemed from the curse of the law”, but the chastising hand of the Lord will be heavy upon us if we are His.
Obedience is a strategy that helps protect us. If we are doing right the Bible tells us we need not fear God nor the laws of man. Disobedience opens up spiritual doorways that give Satan the legal right to impact your life in some cases.
The Bible tells us that there are “courts of heaven”. In those courts, Satan acts as the prosecuting attorney (the accuser of the brethren). Jesus acts as our advocate or defense counsel before the father Who is the Judge. Willful sin can complicate our standing in the courts of heaven. Walk in the light as He is in the light, and the blood of Christ will continually cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
Obedience to the laws of God also enrich our life experience. When we sin, there are often consequences in this life that are hard to escape. While we are promised forgiveness, we are not always able to avoid the real-life consequences that result from adultery or divorce or any crime that results in punishment. Additionally, God will deal with His children firmly and, as many can attest, it is not fun at all.
The secret to success is obedience, and the secret to obedience is learning to love God. We love God because He first loved us and died a miserable death on the cross for us. We can be assured that IF WE ARE TRULY HIS, His grace will always be there and He will willingly offer forgiveness to the true believer. And the true believer will always seek to honor God with obedience, despite frequent failures. Walk in the love of God and reckon yourself alive to God and dead to sin. Your life experience will improve dramatically.
