Who Are You Going to Obey?

Romans 6:11-19

Verse 16  Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

    We have been taking a closer look at obedience and while we know that obedience is important, we don’t often think about how we always live a life of obedience, just not always to God.

    While we don’t like to think of being obedient to anything other than Christ, the truth is that we are often obedient to sin in our lives.  We allow ourselves to be swayed by our desires and they come to be something that we cannot fight against and finally we just give into them, over and over and over again.

    So why is it that we find ourselves so easily obeying the desires of our hearts instead of the desires of the God we say we love?  Well, the main reason is one that is painful to admit to ourselves.  We don’t like to admit that while we may aim to love God first and foremost in our lives, more often than not we are living a life of self-love.

    Our choices in life reveal who really holds our heart and our obedience shows who is on the throne of our heart.  If it is us, than we will be living to fulfill our desires.  If it is God on the throne of our heart, we will be in full obedience to His laws and pursuing His desires.

    Pursuing His desires is not about living a life of self-denial.  Self-denial can be as much about self-serving as self-indulgence, as they both have us more focused on ourselves and our activity.  It can also provide us with a faux sense of salvation as we live as if we are earning His gift of eternal life.  No, pursuing His desires is seeking to know His will so we will know what we need to do to bring Him glory.  Living this life of obedience is about wanting Him magnified because of how we live.  It is about living the life that best magnifies His character.  This is what brings Him joy and shows the depth of our love for Him.

Making It Personal

    Does your life reveal love for Him or yourself?  Have you ever thought about obeying not being enough if the motive is selfish?  Where do you find it hardest to obey His desires?

Making It Personal Kids

    Have you ever obeyed mom and dad, but with a bad attitude because you didn’t really want to obey?  Does obeying with a bad attitude still make God happy?  How does He want us to obey?

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for calling us into deeper obedience.  Help us see Your desires not as a chore, but as something to desire ourselves.  In Jesus’ name, amen.