“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he
will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him and we will come
to him
and make our home with him.’”
John 14:23 (NIV)
Jesus
speaks of obedience, He tells us it comes because of our love for Him. I find
it interesting that He speaks of an outcome of our obedience—God loves us and
they together will come to the one who carries out God’s Will and will live
with him or her. What can we do to practice or better practice obedience to
God?
Do we
listen to what He tells us? I had a relative who would call me and ask my
advice about a circumstance in her life. She would tell me she had two or three
options she could choose to follow. She always seemed to pick the option she
already had decided on before she called. I felt she wasted her time and mine
by doing this ritual.
We can’t
do that with God. When God tells us something, we can’t say, “I’m going to do
what I want about this.” We asked Him; He guides us and we should follow His
leading.
Do we spend time with him in prayer? I
have a friend who told me she had to get out of the habit of praying ‘hit and
run’ prayers or ‘catch you later, God’ prayers. I love the thought I read
several years ago, “If you’re too busy to pray, you are too busy.” Maybe we are
too busy. We might need to pare down some of our activities in order to make
more room for time with God in our lives.
Do we spend time in God’s Word? God
gave us this wonderful guide to Him and His thoughts in order to help us live.
We will be calmer more confident people when we know what God expects from us,
His children.
As we
prepare our hearts to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection, let’s prepare our hearts
in order to be more acceptable to Him.