Obedience Motivated by Love

 “Obedience Motivated by Love”  I read this recently and have been thinking about what that means to me. 

We obey for many reasons.  When we are children we are taught to obey our elders. Often the reason for our needed obedience is to protect us.

Many of us wives repeated marriage vows that included to obey our husbands.  Some of us may have rebelled at that phrase and were unwilling to carry out that command.

 Then, as Believers and followers of Jesus, we were taught to obey our leaders.  Sometimes we even blindly obeyed what a spiritual leader taught us without questioning if it was scriptural.  He (She) was an authority figure that was to be followed.  Hebrews 13:17a “obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them.”

During this Covid 19 quarantine there have been many opinions on the different mandates.  In regards to church – do we obey the President/Governor or do we obey our interpretation of the scripture:
Acts 5:29 NASB.  “we must obey God rather than men”
 We have been instructed by our Pastor and the Foursquare Division leaders that our responsibility is to follow our government leaders since we have not been told we cannot worship at all.  We just had to find new and innovative ways to worship our Savior.  It has been difficult but exciting to see how our church has met this challenge. 

Are we being obedient because these are just rules to follow or because we love Jesus and want what He wants for us?

Eventually most children become adults and can look back and see why parents wanted us to obey.

As a wife being obedient to my husband sounded like I might become a doormat.  In reality, I learned that obey is not a 4-letter word to hate.  It is being an equal partner that sometimes has to realize my husband is wiser on an issue than me.  I “choose” to defer to his decision and it has saved me from regrets at times.

If we read and know our Bible we can be saved from un-godly direction from spiritual leaders that are not following Jesus. 

So how does this relate to “obedience motivated by love”?  I like this phrase because it helps me to look at obeying as an action, filled with grace and freedom.  I do not have to feel oppressed but free to love my family, my country and especially my Lord.  Colossians 3:23 NLT  “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people”

I want to obey the Lord, as I know He desires the best for me.  His ways are better (higher) than my ways – I know this from experience.  Isaiah 55: 8,9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Stay Well,  Stay Safe

God Bless
❤Sharon Charvet
Women's Ministry Leader
Foothills Foursquare Church

                                                
                                                       

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