Mere Obedience - Luke 11:28

But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” - Luke 11:28

    There are many folks who gripe about their circumstances in life and quickly claim that they have prayed incessantly about their problem, receiving no relief from God. They seem to assume their prayers are some kind of magical incantation or sacrifice. They pray; God is supposed to answer their prayers. It seems, from their point of view, that they have fulfilled their part of a bargain. Now it is up to God to hold up His end.
    What they fail to understand is that for prayer to be acceptable to God it must meet some fairly solid criteria. For instance, God requires that pray matches His will. Prayer cannot generally be used in an imprecatory manner. In other words, we cannot call down curses upon people. But perhaps’ God’s greatest requirement for prayer is that it be done with an obedient heart rather that as some type of ritualistic sacrifice. “And Samuel said, ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.’” - 1 Samuel 15:22.
    We will find that in many situations people pull out all the stops when praying for something they feel is a priority in their lives. There is no ritual or incantation they won’t turn to for the desired answer to their prayers when all God ever asks of us is that we obey His commands. “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.” - Deuteronomy 28:1-2.
    On the other hand, God has also declared to us what the results of failing to obey Him result in. He minces no words when He tells us that there will be a grave and problematic price to pay for our disobedience. No one can possibly pick up a Bible and fail to see the warnings from Genesis to Revelation regarding impertinent disobedience and spiritual rebellion. “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.” - Deuteronomy 28:58-59. This particular passage assumes, of course, that our offspring are as rebellious as we have been. There are many passages in Holy Scripture that tell us the child will not be punished for the father’s sin and visa versa. “ The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." - Ezekiel 18:19.
    The Gospel of Matthew speaks of the rewards of obedience. It is a common theme when teaching the relationship between Christ’s roles as Savior and Lord. Herein lies the problem for many who profess their Christianity: they're willing to accept Christ’s salvific atonement for their sins but refuse to ‘obey Him as Lord’. Scripture is redundant when it speaks to the Lordship of Jesus Christ: we cannot have Him as our Savior if we refuse to have Him as our Lord! In fact, Jesus tells us that those who do not obey Him are like a fool who builds his house upon sand. “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”- Matthew 7:26-27. Fools we are called when we fail to obey Christ’s words. And what of those who do heed His commands? “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” - Matthew 25:23.
    We can only respond to the commands of Jesus in one of two ways: we can refuse to do as He has instructed us or we can surrender our egos and deliberate impertinence to His Lordship and receive the blessings awaiting us in God’s providence. Mere obedience to God can reap untold rewards for His children.