The Call of Loving Obedience

Have you ever wondered what God is actually looking for in your life? Our relationship with God depends significantly on how we might answer that question. Various religious answers would claim that God is looking for certain religious rites and ceremonies, certain kinds of worship, consistent religious practices. Some would say that God is looking for moral excellence and judges us to the extent that we fall short. Others have a central focus on God’s grace and claim that God really isn’t expecting anything from us. In fact, they might claim that we are simply passive receptors of grace and that any attempt to do anything for or with God is always “dead works.”

Fortunately, the Bible clarifies what God is looking for, what God expects. (“What does the Bible say?” is always our beginning place.)  “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12 NAS). It’s obvious from this foundational passage that God is looking for certain relational qualities from us. God is not looking for performance or religious duties. God wants us to fear him – to reverence/respect him, to place him at the center of every aspect of our lives. God wants us to serve him, to listen to his word and respond with obedience. Most of all, God wants us to love him, “with all your heart and with all your soul,” to put our whole heart into our relationship with him. Put simply, God is looking for a relationship of loving obedience.

There may be many people whom we love, but we aren’t necessarily committed to a response of obedience to them. On the other hand, we are committed to obey some people without necessarily loving them. It’s pretty rare to have a relationship that includes both love and obedience. But remember: God is not our friend or our neighbor, God is not our co-worker or a family member; God is God! A love relationship with God necessarily implies a life of obedience. Because God is God, it’s not possible to say we love God and then not obey him. Both Testaments of Scripture confirm this simple truth. “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—then I will [bless you]” (Deuteronomy 11:13-14). “Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching’” (John 14:23-24). “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them” (1 John 2:5).

So what does “obedience” really mean in the context of our relationship with God? The New Testament word translated “obey” or “obedience” (Greek hupakuo) is a compound word literally meaning “to hear under.” It means “to listen to a command, to be obedient to a word.” It describes a relationship with someone in authority that includes a certain quality of hearing, i.e., hearing that begins with a commitment to trusting and doing whatever we might hear. It is a “hearing under,” a hearing that assumes a position of respect and submission. Godly, loving obedience is recommended by the early apostles as an essential character quality. “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance” (Romans 6:17). Those with a relationship with God through Christ obey his teaching from the heart. “[Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). More than mental assent to the truth of the Gospel is required. Our new life in Christ can be understood as “obedient.” “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (1 Peter 1:14). Our growth in Christlikeness, the quality of our relationships with each other as brothers and sisters, is marked by loving obedience. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22). Even final judgment is understood in terms of obedience. “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8).

It can be difficult finding the balance of love and obedience, made possible by always understanding that the God we love is God, and is worthy to be obeyed. If Jesus himself walked up to you right now, told you how much he loved you, and then asked you to do something, anything, for him, how would you respond? It’s not hard to understand that if you truly love him, you will obey him, trusting that he always has your best interest in mind. Whenever God speaks to you in whatever way, you always have two choices: to obey or to disobey. Your choice will not only be a sign of the quality of your relationship with God, it will also open the door to all the blessings God has in store for you, to a bright future of hope. May God give us the grace to always hear and obey his word.