Obedience

1 Samuel 15:22 New King James Version (NKJV)

²² So Samuel said:

One of the first lessons I learnt as a new Christian was that obedience is better than sacrifice. I think my willingness to be obedient to God was my saving grace in my walk with God.  I messed up so much as a new believer in Christ, and I know that my willingness to repent and be obedient to the call He put on my heart put me in a special place in His heart (I would like to think so).  God never looked away from me; He was always there to pick me up. When I was on the floor, He picked me up and wiped away the tears.  I am so special to God that He holds me in the palm of His hand and I learnt obedience in so many ways. I think I first started to really desire what God wanted when our pastor was choosing leadership in the church, and I was so jealous that they didn’t consider me. I spoke to my pastor about it and he said that I still had a lot to learn.

One day I was in their kitchen with another lady from the church, and I was telling her that I wished I could have everything sorted out, so that I wouldn’t have to wait two years or however long it took to get my life in order. I wanted everything to be a quick fix. She quoted the scripture, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”  At that time it made sense and I can’t remember the whole conversation that day.  But what I got out of it that day was that no matter what I went through, as long as I obeyed the Lord, I would be okay. God was starting to show me that whatever I gave up or sacrificed for Him wasn’t as important as being obedient to Him.  My pastor and his wife also made obedience to God easier. Whenever I strayed from the truth, they would approach me and lovingly rebuke me.  My willingness to repent from my sin made it easier for my healing.

You see, the most important lesson of all is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. Your sin is already forgiven. So when you approach the cross in repentance, you must know in your heart that your Father in Heaven has already forgiven you and your repentance restores the relationship to Him.  God is eagerly waiting for us to be in relationship with Him and our sin takes us out of that relationship.  It is not God pulling away from us, but us pulling away from Him.

Whatever God puts in your heart, be obedient to Him.  He will guide you and make your paths straight. Forgive others quickly. Repent as soon as you have been convicted of sin.  If you are in sin and are convicted, repent, even if you are still struggling.  Be obedient.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. – Matthew 7:21

Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. – Romans 1:5

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. – 2 John 1:6