The lyrics of an old gospel song went, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Can Christianity be summarized by just being obedient? Is all obedience the same? We just have to obey?
Is obedience done out of fear, love, obligation, or legalism the same in God’s eyes? Do you prefer a person obeys you because they fear or feel obligated to you, or because they love you?
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15 (ESV) 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. 1 John 2:5-6 (NLT2) 3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3 (NLT2)
Could it be possible for obedience to become a ‘god’ in our mind rather than Jehovah God?
So, obedience itself is not the main thing; love is. As John wrote, obedience flows out of love. Love doesn’t come out of fear or legalistically checking off a list each day that they fulfilled their responsibility to love God.
This then leads to the question, how can we come to love God if it is not out of fearing Him first? It has fascinated me that the Old Testament focuses more on fearing God than loving Him, albeit, what they relate to fearing Him is about the same, if not the same, as how the New Testament uses the term loving Him. If they are not the same, they are like two sides of the same coin.
Whatever the case, we humans cannot make ourselves love God. Love is an involuntary result of experiencing an awe of Him and what He says or does. This awe can come to us in different ways, but the most common way it happens for me is when I position myself to encounter Him. More often than not, I experience an encounter with Him when I read and wrestle with a challenging thought triggered when reading a thought-provoking statement or series of statements in the Bible. It would appear that is when the Holy Spirit directs me to another passage in the Bible that resolves the question I was wrestling with. I have come to the conclusion (right or wrong) that He genuinely likes it when I’m seeking an answer that leads to revealing more of his character, values, or ways.
I don’t experience fear or love of Him if I am sitting static in my thoughts or letting my mind wander meander about situations around me. I frequently have had a sense of His presence when I’m driving the car, and my mind is not focused on anything in particular.
Bottom line: I can’t believe obeying God means much of anything to Him if what I am thinking or doing is out of obligation or some form of legalist requirement that I am doing just to coheres Him to do something. He is not much into bartering or bargaining with me. I have found He knows when I am doing or saying something out of ritualistic or pietistic in my behavior. When have you encountered his presence most often? Have you obeyed Him out of obligation of some sort?