It feels good to be rewarded. You get that bonus or raise for your hard work, a party for meeting a goal, and so on. We learned in the last post that God tests us to see if we will obey Him. He also gives rewards for our obedience. According to Dictionary.com (06/30/2022), obedience is being compliant and submitting to the requests of someone in authority. God is the supreme authority. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and so on. God established laws as a boundary for the sinful nature we inherited when Adam disobeyed God’s command to not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden.
We have laws in our country to control the self-centered actions of people. For instance, there are many traffic laws we need to obey, and if we don’t, we will suffer a consequence. Many establishments have a code of conduct they expect their employees or customers to follow to maximize a pleasant and safe environment. Otherwise, you have chaos and fear. God’s laws and commands have the same purpose.
Obedience is hard when you want to be self-centered or prideful and don’t think you need to do what someone tells you to do. I had a problem obeying because I did not trust the people in authority. I also struggled to comply because I needed to be in control, which was a trust and pride issue. When I worked through betrayal issues and broke down the betrayal stronghold and the controlling stronghold, I was more willing to obey. To learn more, read Pt. 1: Forsaken? Betrayed? How to Trust Again.
Sometimes you are asked to do something that does not make sense. God the Father planned that His son was to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins, which does not make sense to us. Philippians 2:8 states, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Do you think it is unreasonable for God to require us to be holy? 1Peter 1:14-16 states, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” Dictionary.com (6/30/2022) says that holy is to be spiritually pure, godly, and dedicated or devoted to the service of God. God promises to be our helper, so we can depend on Him to help us be holy. To learn more read Posts About Godliness.
So what are God’s rewards for obedience?
God Promises to Bless Those Who Obey Him
What does it mean to be blessed? Dictionary.com (6/30/2022) says that “blessed” is to be divinely or supremely favored, and favored is to be regarded or treated with preference or partiality and enjoy special advantages. Does this sound like something you would like? The following verses describe how God blesses those who obey and keep His ways:
Proverbs 8:32 “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.”
Psalm 119:2-3 “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, 3who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!”
James 1:25 “But the one who looks into the perfect law [love], the law of liberty [freedom], and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing [all that you do].”
Luke 11:28 “But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’”
Psalm 106:3 “Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!”
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, 28and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.”
Deuteronomy 12:28 “Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.”
Do you know what God requires of you? Do you obey so you can be blessed?
God Promises Eternal life with Him to Those Who Do His Will
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
1John 2:17 “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
John 14:21 “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
The will of God is what He expects us to do, namely, that we love Him with all our strength, heart, mind, and soul. By obeying His commands, we prove our love for God. John 14:23 states, “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:31 states, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.” God also requires that we love others as Jesus loves them. 1John 3:23 states, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” Loving others is hard because we are all sinners and hurt one another. I discuss this in greater detail in my website book. When we obey the truth found in God’s Word, we purify our souls as we obey and forgive those who hurt us and let go of resentment, then we can love from a pure heart. 1Peter 1:22 states, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” To learn more about purifying your heart, read Love from a Pure Heart.
Conclusion
Obedience is difficult if you are self-centered, prideful, or don’t trust those in authority. But it is always best to obey God, not just for the rewards, but because He is good and knows our future and what is best for us. I don’t understand why God asked me to write because I never thought I was a good writer and didn’t know how to write. I obeyed, and I am still writing. I pray you are blessed by my writing and choose to obey God so you will be blessed with divine favor and spend eternity with Him.
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