By Zachary Teasley
Obedience is a learned conditioned response that we learn as children from our parents from the moment we are born into this world. We are taught what is acceptable behavior or right, like being patient and taking turns, and conversely, we are taught what is not acceptable or wrong like being selfish and a bully. Furthermore, when we become adults having been highly influenced by our upbringing, whether from mom and dad, surrogate parents or grandparents, aunts, or uncles we learn to become law abiding citizens and comply with the ordinances and rules of this country. We grow and learn that in order to be successful at work, rest, or play, we must voluntarily abide by or obey many different laws established by various parts of our society. Also, we learn, and oftentimes the hard way, that if we do not obey an established law in our society, for example, not paying our federal taxes to our government or driving over the speed limit on our roads, that there are penalties/punishment that we must face. Unfortunately, in our world, many citizens are not law abiding because they deliberately make a conscious decision to break or violate an established law and seek to make up their own rules as to how they should live or what a law means. This premise, my dear friends and Christians is a dangerous path that can lead to chaos and the destruction of our society as we have known it. The Bible says in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
In the spiritual realm as Christians we strive to stay obedient to God at all times, putting Him first as our Lord tells us to, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). Because we put God first, obeying secular laws will not be a stumbling block for us because the Lord expects and commands that we obey every law or ordinance of the land. A very serious and major challenge we face as Christians, is not doing what Jehovah God has commanded in the manner He has originally communicated through divine inspiration. In other words, God demands faith, obedience, and humble action from us continuously, but we decide either ignorantly or consciously to disobey and go against His sacred laws. The attitude or mindset of our current society, the religious world, and many members in the Body of Christ are portraying is a very casual and loose respect for Jehovah God as our Creator and Savior and His divine commandments. Disobeying God’s word by adding, subtracting, or disregarding is a very lethal and deadly path leading to eternal damnation if left alone without proper warning and correction. Revelation 22:18-19 warns us about this premise, “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Jesus Christ who is God has promised to return to this earth and redeem the saved and obedient servants and also unleash His powerful vengeance against anyone who chooses to disobey Him. II Thessalonians 1:7-9, “and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” There is such a thing from God’s perspective as acceptable obedience (abiding in His word and doing His will, John 8:31-32) and unacceptable obedience (attempting to obey but selfishly going outside and against His word, 2 John 9). What is very ironic and oftentimes unbelievable, is that those who chose to disobey and go against Jehovah God are following and duplicating the same pattern of selfish disobedience as the Israelites and Jews had done. 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, discusses this unacceptable pattern of behavior, (Study the whole chapter during your personal study time) “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” Again, they were all eyewitnesses to God’s multiple demonstrations of His presence with them and His mighty power but they still disobeyed Our Lord. It behooves all of us to self-examine ourselves and ensure we do not follow the same destructive path many Jews took through their own devices.
Continuing our study and learning about examples from the past in the Bible, I’d like to give a few examples briefly of people in the Old Testament who chose to disobey God for our learning. First, there is Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6:1-7, who was instantly killed by God after he accidentally touched the Ark of the Covenant to prevent it from falling off the carrying cart while they were transporting the Ark to Jerusalem. They were commanded not to touch or allow anyone else to touch the Ark of the Lord which was where the Lord’s presence was, 2 Samuel 6:6-7, “And when they came to the Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the Ark of God.” We understand from this example that God means what he says about obedience and we must not go against his command. Another example, is the decision King Saul of Israel made to adjust God’s plan in 1 Samuel 15:1-35. In verse 3, Saul was commanded to “go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox, and sheep, camel and donkey.” However, Saul did not obey God’s command completely because he brought back King Agag and various animals from the battle for sacrifice. Verse 11, God said, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel confronts Saul in verse 22, saying, “Has 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 heed than the fat of rams.” Therefore from these two examples, we can clearly conclude that complete and total obedience to His will is what God requires always, please read John 12:48!