Obedience

The word ‘obey’ means to do what you are told or expected to do, it can be a law/command/rule/order. While I was a child I had to obey my parents: “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right” (Eph 6:1). In our everyday life we are expected to be obedient.

The God of the bible used Moses to lead the children of Israel into the promised land. They were given two choices: either to obey and get the blessings of obedience, or to disobey and receive the punishments or curses (Deut 28; Lev 26). We are to do the will of God and get the promised eternal life/salvation/immortality, or disobey and get death as a punishment and never live again.

The God of the Bible has offered to us Jesus Christ as an example of blessings for obedience through his death on the cross. He obeyed, humbled himself, did the will of the Father. He was rewarded with immortality. He is the author of our salvation. We read Christ’s example of humility: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross” (Phil 2:4-10). “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22).

If, as a brother or sister, we do the will of God, we shall be rewarded with salvation: “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of God, but the one who does the will of the Father who is in heaven” (Matt 7:21). “Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? ... Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matt 12:48).

The word ‘obey’ therefore is very important in our lives, for if we refuse to obey the truth, then we shall be punished with death and inevitably miss the opportunity to live again after death. “Who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thess 1:9).

I have made the year 2011 a year of obedience, therefore let all my brothers and sisters worldwide join together in our journey to the Kingdom.

Bro Owalo Onani (Sindo, Kenya)