Obedience and Disobedience

One of my favorite preachers, Charles Stanley, often says, “Obey God and leave all the consequences to him!”

Not only is this wonderful advice, but it is also a great truth of the scriptures. The problem is that we don’t always obey God and when we don’t there are consequences.

Here are a few lessons about obeying and disobeying God that I’ve learned from my own life and study. . .

1. Obedience is easier than disobedience. Life is actually way more fulfilling and meaningful when we obey God than when we don’t. The consequences of disobeying God make life a lot harder.

2. Obedience or disobedience is a choice that we make. God wants to bless us and love us in his care. Yet he gives us the choice to obey or not and when we choose to disobey God’s word and promises we have to live with our choice.

3. To disobey God is to partner with the devil. Satan IS the ruler of this world. Check out 1 Peter 5:8 and 2 Corinthians 4:4. Satan IS looking for anyone who is weak or who does not recognize his schemes and ways. He will come your way to lead you to disobey God.

4. Disobedience has earthly and eternal consequences. We often experience the earthly consequences of disobeying God but seldom recognize the eternal consequences of disobeying God. DON’T GET ME WRONG! When we disobey God does he still love us? ABSOLUTELY!!! But there are still eternal consequences to disobeying God that we never even consider that will far outweigh the earthly consequences we experience.

The Hebrew word for obey, shama, means “to listen.” To obey God means to listen to and for him. To disobey God means to disregard God’s word and direction for our lives.