Loving God = Obedience

How do we show God that we love Him - truly love Him?  We obey Him when He speaks to us - we obey His Word.

Now, before we go further...This is not a legalistic form of obedience.  Not like "obeying the law of the land", so we won't get in thrown into prison.  Our obedience should be a natural out-flow of our love for Him.  We love Him because He first loved us. In order to be obedient we have to listen to Him.  Listening requires us to know His voice.  The Word says, "My sheep hear my voice and they know me and follow (obey) me."  His kids do what He tells them to do.

Obedience - to obey - is NOT an acceptable word these days.  Its almost always seen by the world today as a "four letter word".  Even in the context of insisting on obedience from our children, it is seen as a bad word.  If I had a dollar for every time I was looked at like I'd sprouted another head for using it, I'd have a tidy nest egg set aside.  We, as a people,  do not like to be told what to do.  It rubs us the wrong way.  But as believers we need to understand that we have AGREED to submit our will to Him when we accept His gift of salvation.  Our salvation - we don't have to do anything to get it, but it's NOT a free ride.

All of that said... how do we learn to love God?  I believe it starts at obeying Him.  AS we draw closer to Him through obedience, we start to love Him deeper.  We come closer and closer to amazing love for our Father.  Then, and interesting thing happens...we are no longer obeying Him because we "have to" we are obeying Him because we want to - because we love Him.  A shift happens.  Our obedience becomes a natural out-flowing of our love for Him.

Now, while this is our goal (instant obedience when He speaks), we don't always do so great.  Sometimes our "logical human brains" talk us out of instant obedience.  God tells us to do something or He starts to show us something we don't want to see, and we put Him on hold because we have a better plan.  Our limited human-ness thinks we have a better solution or what He has told us doesn't fit with what we think He should do, so we drag our feet.

When my boys were small, I demanded (yes, demanded) instant obedience from them.  Delaying in obedience had swift consequences.  Why?  Because I'm a mean mom?  NO!  Because I could see a bigger picture than them.  I knew what would be the consequence of their disobedience...

Example:
If they run into the road, when a car is coming, after I've told them to stop they could be hit by said car and possibly die.  They couldn't see what I could see, so I trained them to obey instantly.  I demanded it because of my deep, passionate love for them...not because I wanted to "ruin their fun".

In a much more perfect way, God does the same with us.  He demands instant obedience because He has the big picture.  When we delay, there are consequences that we can't see.  Sometimes the consequences of our disobedience are light, but sometimes they are quite painful - not only for us, but for those around us.  (Side note: our free will doesn't just impact us.  It also impacts those around us.)  Walking out the consequences of our disobedience is tough, so how can we avoid them???

We obey when he tells us to do something!  How do we obey?  We get to know His voice.  How do we get to know His voice?  We spend time with Him by reading His Word and praying.  Thankfully this isn't rocket science.  He makes it simple, so we can get it.  Why? Because He loves us, and wants to be in relationship with us - He wants us to love Him back...He, the creator of the universe...How cool is that!

Lord, help me to want to obey the first time you ask, and to love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.