When most of us think of being obedient, we probably think of when we were a child and our parents and/or guardian told us to do something. Perhaps we think of being at school and a teacher tells us to do something. I was never really good at that and my parents, if they kept them, could pull out stacks of notes and progress reports sent home from the teachers I had throughout the years. Unsurprisingly, most of those notes and progress reports said the same thing. From elementary school until graduation, I had a problem at school with obedience. Sure I was never expelled or suspended, but I certainly did serve my time in In-School Suspension and Detention. Whether it was talking when I wasn’t supposed to, doing something to make classmates laugh, or just being a goofball, I was always disrupting the class somehow. I knew what my antics would cost – sitting in the principal’s office and waiting for him or her to call my parents and tell them I was in his or her office once again.

I think I finally learned obedience when I joined the military. Maybe not at first, but the stakes were higher at that point in my life. If you don’t follow instructions in the military it would eventually lead to demotion, loss of pay, and maybe even some time in the military brig. In some situations, failure to follow basic instructions could result of loss of life; my own or someone else’s. So yes, I learned pretty quickly the value of following the rules and obeying what those over me told me to do.

One thing my wife and I are currently struggling with is teaching our three year old twins how to be obedient. How to listen and do what is right the first time, rather than them waiting until discipline is imminent. It is not natural for us as humans to be obedient. There are prisons full of men and women who have failed to follow the rules.

God desires that we walk in obedience towards Him. When we are obedient towards God, we will then have victory over situations in our lives.

God wants us to walk in obedience—not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self.

Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

When victory is our motive for something, it is focused on ourselves and our own achievements. It’s selfish ambition. When we are obedient to God, we are focusing on His role in our lives and we are submitting to Him as authority over us. The same is true when we were children and obedient to our parents or guardian. We recognized the role they played in our lives and that doing what they told us to do was in our best interest. Not our best interest for avoiding punishment, but for our safety and well-being. When we stepped outside of that umbrella of obedience, there would be repercussions for our disobedience. Actions, positive or negative, come with consequences. Obedience and disobedience comes with consequences. Obedience to God results in obtaining favor and blessing. Disobedience leads to correction. When we refused to listen to our parents, guardian, or teachers, didn’t it result in some sort of corrective action? If not, the days and hours spent in In-School Suspension and Detention had no meaning. They were intended, within the limits of the school, to discipline me and correct negative behavior. Teachers didn’t send me to Detention because it was a great place to be. No, I was sent because there was a pattern of behavior that needed correction.

In the same way we have experienced correction from our earthly father’s, parent, guardian, etc., God corrects us. When we aren’t obedient towards Him and we begin to stray from that which we know is correct, He will begin sending us nudges to get back on track. If we continue to ignore those gentle nudges, sometimes it will take more drastic situations in life to bring us back to Him. Is it out of anger? No. Discipline from God is out of love and His desire for us to walk in union with Him. When I correct my own children, it isn’t out of anger or hatred, but out of an earnest love for them and a desire for them to make decisions in life that will lead to joy and peace, rather than sadness, disappointment, and calamity.

Where are you at right now in life? Are you being obedient? If not, are you feeling God gently nudge you to return to Him? Perhaps God has placed bigger life experiences and trials in your path? Turn to Him. You cannot conquer them alone. Place your trust in Him and allow Him to walk with you through this.

Be obedient. The reward is worth it!

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27, King James Version