Obeying the Lord

 

Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

John 14:21 says, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

“Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.” These are words from a familiar hymn which is sung quite often in many churches. Obeying someone's wishes, or commands, however you want to put it, takes longer at times than it does at others. When my mother would give me a command, it started out as a request and my shortened name would be used. As my name grew in lengt h, I could judge that the time for instant obedience had arrived The tone of her voice and the name, Daniel Charles Freeland indicated that obedience was now and had better not be avoided.

God has given mankind a number of commandment that have to be obeyed and there are many examples in the Old Testament of what takes place when obedience is lacking. In many instances, justice was immediate and thousands could die while people evaluate whether obedience is necessary or not. The above passage is, of course from the New Testament and the speaker is the Lord Jesus Christ. The son of God explained the Ten Commandments in two commandment s by saying , Love the Lord your God wit h all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength and your neighbor as your self. In John 13: 34-35, Christ exhorted us to “Love one another as He has loved us.” If we find that we are making progress in this area, then there are the “imperative commands” found throughout the Word of God, thirty-nine of which are found just in the Book of Ephesians. The question still hangs out there which says, “When are we going to obey what has already been given t o us. The title for my autobiography is, “Life is Made of Memories while Supplies Last.” The final phrase is what is important here as the supply of memories does not always last as we begin to forget more and more as the years go by. Ecclesiastes 12 begins with the exhortation to remember our Creator while we are young and not wait until we become old and our senses are dulled by age itself. Then, as we recently mentioned, our life on this earth is short when compared to eternity. Then, we should not delay but begin early in our life to implement obedience to God's Word. Finally, there is the thought that God is not going to wait forever but there will be that Final Moment when the last person will be saved and the next phase begins. The rapture of the church, the tribulation period and the millennium, judgment and new heaven and new earth. Praise God today that we have the opportunity to “Trust and Obey.”