Real Life ~ Real Answers

Obedience to the Law



You’re on a family vacation visiting a historical place. You park, and as you lock your car, a couple walks up to you and hands you their wrist bands from their visit. “We are leaving,” they say, “take our wrist bands and use them to get in. They’ll never know anyway.” Not sure what to say, your husband takes them and says “thank you.” As you walk towards the visitor’s center you read on the wrist band “not transferrable between individuals.” Your husband asks you, “What do you think we should do?”

So…what response would bring God glory? Why?

Blessings of Obedience

As we study Mary's life, we can see how the Lord gave her much grace to be able to bear and raise Christ. We talk today about the blessings of obedience in her life. She was given grace to endure hardship from the community and even initial rejection by Joseph. She was able to make the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to give birth to Christ in a stable. Think through how the Lord has blessed you in your obedience to Him and then praise God for His grace to help you obey and for the blessing you received.

The Cost of Obedience

As we discuss more about the life of Mary, Christ's mother, we see that there was a cost to her obedience to God. When she returned home from visiting Elizabeth, we know there was much scorn given to her because she was pregnant. Even Joseph was going to divorce her (Matthew 1:19). In future chapters, we find that Mary traveled while very pregnant a long journey to Bethlehem to be obedient and follow Joseph. She delivered Christ among animals. She gave up her own dreams of her future life with Joseph and humbly submitted to God's plan for her. To many, the cost of obedience to God's will is not appealing. Sometimes obeying God's will means up giving up your dreams and goals for your life. Sometimes the cost of obedience means that you will receive ridicule from friends or family for doing what is right. As we reflect on Mary's obedience to God, let it encourage us to be obedient to God, no matter the cost!

Obedience to Authority

Ecclesiastes chapter 8 opens up the topic of discussion on obedience to authority - to leaders and laws of the land. Have you ever thought about various ways that you may struggle with obedience to laws in your country? What about car safety - speed limits, seat belts, car seats for kids or tax laws, business laws, etc...? Do you strive to be obedient to the laws of the land whether you agree with them or not? Romans 13:1-7 is another section of Scripture that gives believers direction obedience to authority: "Let every person be subject to governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God...therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed..." All believers are to place themselves under the authority of the laws of our country. How we react when we disagree with a law is an indication of our heart, whether we are willing to be submissive to God's leading or not. God instituted authority and as we obey human authority, we are obeying and honoring our Heavenly Father. So next time you think about driving a little faster or disregard any other law, remember you are really disobeying God. Think about it and let us know what you think.

Ruth's obedience

In Ruth 3:1-5, we find that Naomi is now giving Ruth instructions concerning her relationship with Boaz. Ruth responds with a heart of obedience to her mother-in-law. She humbly submitted to Naomi to do what she asked her to. This obedience reveals much about Ruth's character. She not only trusted God to lead her, but she trusted Naomi to give her instruction about her own future! Wow! How many of us today would be so quick to be obedience to our parents or in-laws when given instruction. Sometimes we are so quick to think that we have it all together and that we are old enough to make our own decisions. We must remember that God places people in our lives to help reveal His will for us. It is wise for a daughter to ask her mother for advice in wedding plans or parenting struggles. While decisions are ultimately up to us and we are responsible to the Lord for our decisions, let us also remember that when we pray and seek the council of others who are older in their walk with the Lord that we can gain insights that we hadn't thought of. Perhaps the Lord will use a parent, grandparent or older woman in your church to help you think more biblically about a situation. We pray that this study of Ruth will encourage you as you seek to grow more godly in your character.

How can I joyfully obey?

To obey is one thing....but to obey joyfully is another! We have seen in children how they might obey their parents, but have a grumpy heart doing it! Christian adults are the same way! Do we obey our Heavenly Father with a grumpy heart or do we joyfully obey His commands? Over the next several sessions we are going to share with you some ideas that we think will help you joyfully obey God's commands. Tell us what you think or if you have other ideas to share, let us know! The full list with verses can be found on our study notes. For reference, I have a simple list here as well. 1) Check your heart! 2) Recognize that obedience is a family matter. 3) Cultivate an attitude of loving God and His Word 4) Choose to be joyful 5) Don't live based on your feelings 6) Focus on the future

Examples of Obedience

The next couple of days we are going to share with you some Biblical examples as well as recent examples of people who have obeyed in difficult circumstances. We hope you are encouraged by these examples and that they will give YOU encouragement to obey! Can you share with us an example?

Easy or Difficult?

Many Christians think obeying God is difficult. Why is that a misconception? Remember Matthew 11:30, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light"? The Christian whose will is united with the will of God, will not find obedience to God's will a task. Rather, the Christian will find obedience a joy because he loves to serve and please his Savior. We need to recognize that attitudes of defeat and sorrow over what God has called you to do is sinful thinking. We must take our thoughts captive and chose to believe God's Word - that what He has called us to do, He will give us grace to do. So, how are you doing? Do you think that obeying God is difficult? How have you see God's grace working in your life as you seek to obey God?

Obeyable Commands

Verse 3 in 1 John 5 tells us, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." What an amazing and encouraging truth this can bring us as we seek to obey God's commands. We can be confident that His commands are obeyable because He promises that they are not burdensome! We spent some time today defining the word "burdensome." The thought behind it is that a burden is "heavy," "oppressive," or "grievous." These are not characteristic of God's commands. We read in Matthew 11:30 that Christ says "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Praise God that what God has called us to is bearable, obeyable and can be done using His strength! So, how are you doing with YOUR calling? Are you trusting in this fact that His commands are not burdensome? Or, are you allowing your mind to be overwhelmed with the worries and cares of this life? We pray that this time of study would be an encouragement to you as you seek to fulfill God's calling for your life.