Obeying God


When we say that we are to obey God in everything, the typical response given is “you are being legalistic!” Is it though? Think about it, is it wrong or sinful to attempt to obey God in everything that we do? Is it wrong to strive to keep all the teachings of Jesus? Is it sinful to strive to never sin? All these questions seem rather ridiculous to me. Why would we ever accuse someone of being sinful for wanting to do the right thing? I think the problem lies with us trying to attribute motives to others when there is no basis for such. We are not heart or mind readers. We don’t know the intentions of others.

The part that is hard for some to see is that there are people that are truly faithful who want to do what is right. They want to obey God in all things and that they are not trusting in themselves. This is hard to see because there are many people who want to do the right thing but then they become arrogant and proud as thinking that they are right with God because of this obedience alone. We rightly speak against doctrines that teach that we are saved by grace alone and by faith alone. We need to also understand that we are not saved by obedience alone.

Jesus condemns those who have this kind of attitude in Luke 18:9 when he said “He told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.” We are not righteous within ourselves. We are made righteous through the forgiveness of sins through God’s grace and mercy. This call to holiness is for us to become dead to sin, to put away all unrighteousness, and to obey in all things. In our striving to obey God in all things, we must recognize our failings and need for God’s grace in our lives.

Obeying God and teaching obedience is never wrong. It is our attitude concerning obeying God that may be wrong. One thought is, we must realize that obedience alone is not right. Another thought is, that faith is never contrasted in scripture against obedience. To have saving faith, one must obey! We need to consider whether we stand forgiven by the Lord. If we are not forgiven, we are not living in faith to Him.

by Lee Elkins