Obedience

Obedience is an awful word! But it’s a word we all  know about. When the little child first hears the word “no, no” from his parents, he gets it. And, when he tries to use the word “no no” on his parents, he also gets it. He may not know the word obedience but he begins to know he is supposed to obey his parents.

When the little guy reaches the ripe old age of six, he learns he must obey teachers too! Wow! that word is awful, isn’t it? My little brother sure hated that word. He took a quarter from the counter of the grocery store. A quarter was a lot of money back in those days. Even a penny could buy a lot of candy! I believe my brother was about six at that time. Mom made him bring the quarter back to the store and tell the man behind the counter he was sorry. He learned the lesson of obedience quickly.

All through the years we have hated that word, from hiding that note from the teacher to your parents, to disobeying the curfew your dad had  put on you, to keeping something from your husband or cheating on your taxes. It is all because of that word, disobedience.

It’s somewhat different with God though. Wouldn’t it be hard to keep all the rules and regulations of the Old Testament? The people of that time didn’t keep them very well, and God knew it. Yet, he loved the people so much, he sent his Son, Jesus, into the world to take care of the problem. Jesus was to die a horrible death for the disobedience, or sins, past, present or future of all the people in the world.

That is quite a promise, isn’t it? Of course, we have to know and love our heavenly Father, ask for forgiveness and forgive everyone to whom we have done wrong. And, we are to follow Jesus. That sounds like obedience, doesn’t it? But our sins are gone, even those in the future. We are free, free indeed. Does that mean we can sin all we want?

Many people feels it means that. But they are wrong. We are to follow Jesus. There are many things Jesus wouldn’t want us  to do that we probably would do. We won’t feel much like doing wrong after we know Jesus. God knows that we are human just like the little boy who learned the meaning of “no no”, but because of His great love He is willing to forgive if we ask.

Isn’t God Awesome?