IS OBEYING GOD WORTH IT?

Today's promise: Obeying God brings great joy

Is obeying God worth it?

If they listen and obey God, then they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant.

Job 36:11 NLT

The benefits of obedience

Sometimes you may wonder if obeying God is worth it. Job's friend, Elihu, concluded in Job 36:11 that God is just and does bless those who obey him. If you don't reap the benefits of obedience in this life, you will in the next.

The Pharisees in Jesus' day obeyed the law, but for all the wrong reasons. Jesus warned in Matthew 5:20 that God looks at people's hearts. He wants obedience that flows out of love for him.

But I warn you — unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!

When the religious leaders commanded Peter and the apostles to stop preaching the gospel, their priorities were put to the test. Their answer, recorded in Acts 5:29, teaches us that obedience to God must come first, even if it requires personal sacrifice.

But Peter and the apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than human authority."

God has not hidden the secret of obedience — he has made his expectations clear. Micah 6:8 summarized the way people can please God.

No, O people, the Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Adapted from Living Water for Those Who Thirst Tyndale House Publishers (2000), pp 139-40

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House