“Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine,”
Exodus 19:5 CSB
What does a life of obedience look like? Obedience can be a challenge. It is especially challenging when we are tempted to believe that we are going to loose more through obedience than what we might gain in disobedience. Obeying God is essential to pleasing Him. It’s not just I times of temptation, but at all times.
My journey has been a series of tough trials of obedience. To believe or not believe. To obey His Word and commands or not. It is a simple choice we complicate. What we fail to acknowledge is that obedience is the framework around our lives that forms a protective hedge from evil.
Disobedience brings struggle. Think ab the last time you were tempted to do something against what God has commanded. Did a war begin to erupt inside your heart. We have a few questions that rise up: Will obeying God cost me more than disobeying? Can I experience greater happiness by committing a sin than I would obeying God?
I can speak to experience that no sin is ever worth giving up the peace and joy of God in obedience. No person or object is worth it. That small sin to obtain a moment of happiness is only temporal. It will fade and you will look for a new “high,”to fill the misery and unhappiness of your existence.
When we choose to obey God, we take the way of wisdom. The promise of His blessing far outweighs any possible sin consequence. We must submit ourselves to Him and leave the consequences to Him. God loves us and is faithfully committed to us! How is not some strict task master. He demands obedience because of the devastating effects that disobedience and sin will have not just o;our lives, but the trickling of it on other lives around us.
Sin destroys. Our choices are not associated to us alone. Our consequences are not ours alone. The devastation of choosing to disobey God will have dire effects on those around us. Until we can truly understand the destruction and mutilation sin causes, we will not consider the choices we make.
Obedience is not easy because we complicate it. God’s way is easy, but we get in the way of it. We face criticism from others or fierce obstacles, but obedience to God will always put you in a favorable position to God. Trusting in a him, he will take care of all that concerns you. Keep on the path of obedience and leave the rest to Him.
“But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:25 CSB
I can tell you that God will not bless disobedience, but will bless you when you are. His blessing will be unimaginable. Sometimes I get moments of doubt. I question if I am being obedience or is it my imagination? Did I dream up the voice of God? But I look back over this last year and I have stayed true to Him and in return He has done the impossible and gone even further.
No matter how tough it seems, how dark it gets, He is with you.
““Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse: there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today, and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.”
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 CSB
It is just that simple. Disobedience is to be cursed. Obedience is to be blessed.
It Starts Small 
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