Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Winkie Pratney
Devotional: Christian Obedience is a Simple Matter of Saying Yes
Sometimes we can look at obedience to God’s commandments as something extraordinarily difficult. It’s very tempting to look at it as something that very select few could do. After all, if you look at God’s commandments and you look at human nature, it’s like trying to walk on water or walk through the eye of a needle. But the good news is that it really can be boiled down to a simple matter of saying yes to God and letting him do the work. As long as your heart is available to God, he will help you obey. In fact, he will do it for you. There’s a reason why God said, follow me and my yolk is light. What Jesus meant by that is that his yolk is light precisely for the reason that he is going to carry it for you. After all, He paid the ultimate price for your sins. Here are the reasons why Christian obedience is a simple matter of saying yes to Christ.
Decide to Obey God and Let Him Lead
For obedience to happen into your life, all you need to say is: Jesus I will follow you. Lead the way. All you need to do is say and mean that and God will give you the provision. Just as God gave Abraham the provision of the sacrificial animal to sacrifice in place of Isaac, God will provide. He will give you the power, just decide to obey him.
Stop Acting Out of Fear
Sometimes we look at the whole project of obedience and look at what we can lose or focus on basically the fact that we keep failing and it leads to something worse. Don’t let fear paralyze you. Instead of acting out of fear, start trusting out of love for Christ. Always look back at the fact that God loves you so much that he was willing to sacrifice his only begotten son. In other words, He was willing to give up everything He had just to be reconciled with you. If you can place your faith on that, then all fears will be cast out. So stop acting out of fear and trust God instead.
Stop Letting Fear Hold You Back
What’s the worst that can happen when you say yes to Christian obedience? Nothing bad would happen and you have everything to gain. God laid out his commandments to prosper you. It’s not there to make your life hard. In fact, if you follow God’s commandments, it leads to great blessings. You only need to look at Deuteronomy 28 to know exactly what this means.
Humbly Accept the Holy Spirit’s Convicting Power
Christian obedience really is a call and response process. Obedience doesn’t exist out of a vacuum. You would only obey Christ’s commands if you know his commands. The best way to do this of course is to let the Holy Spirit teach you. You know you’re doing wrong when the Holy Spirit is working on your heart, you feel that convicting power. Humbly accept that convicting power, listen to the Holy Spirit, and you’ll get that call and response factor that will lead you to the right direction.
