WHY IS OBEDIENCE IMPORTANT TO MY SPIRITUAL LIFE?

Today's promise: Blessings come from obeying God

Why is obedience important to my spiritual life?

Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. You will receive a curse if your reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn from his way by worshipping foreign gods.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 NLT

If you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all nations of the earth; for all the earth belongs to me.

Exodus 19:5 NLT

"Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them."

John 14:21 NLT

Countercultural Obedience

To speak positively of obedience today is be profoundly countercultural. The valid suspicion of talk about obedience is grounded in the experience of authoritarianisms, both past and present. Obedience is confused with "blind obedience," which is normally odious. Obedience is confused with conformity, with going along, with asking no questions. But obedience really means responsiveness; it is related to the Latin audire, to hear, to listen, to respond appropriately. Obedience is not the surrender of responsibility but the acceptance of responsibility for what we respond to and how.

Richard John Neuhaus

Quoted in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale House), p 295

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House