Why Should You Obey God?

Published on 04/28/24 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

Why should Christians obey God's commandments?

The purpose of obedience to Yahweh God's commandments is twofold:

a) It shows that you love Yahweh your Heavenly Father in turn. Obedience is an expression of love. You cannot claim to love God while you rebel against His laws.

To show or prove that we love Yahweh, we must keep His commandments: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." (1 John 5:3, WEB)

In Exodus 20:5-6, Yahweh God equates obedience with love, and disobedience with hate. When we obey God, that means we love Him. When we disobey Him, that means we hate Him. That's how God judges whether we love or hate Him, not by how we feel for Him (2 John 6). A Christian can "feel" love for God, but God will not see it as true love if the person fails to do His will. So it's a matter of passive love (a feeling of love) vs. active love. We should have an active love, just as we should have an active faith. It's an active faith in Christ that saves us (James 2:14-26). A passive faith is the faith of demons, and is therefore fruitless (James 2:19).

b) It proves that your faith in God and in Jesus is genuine. How can you claim to believe in God if you do not fear the consequences of your rebellion? While our obedience to God's laws should not be driven by fear of punishment, we would be quite foolish to think that we will escape unscathed when we willfully disobey Yahweh's laws. Failing to perfectly obey God's laws when you have tried your hardest is one thing; to willfully rebel against His laws is quite another thing. There will not be any condemnation to only sincere Christians who failed to perfectly keep God's laws. It's another story for rebels. Simply put, God will not be mocked; we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7).

Remember: "He [Yahweh through Jesus] will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil--for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good--for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.

"For merely listening to the law doesn't make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight." (Romans 2:6-11, 13, NLT)

What holds you back from obeying Yahweh?

Answer: Pride is what holds most of us back from obeying God. Many of us believe that we are smart and wise enough to make our own rules and govern our own lives; but are we really? Our modern motto is "Follow your heart!" but God's Word says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, WEB) Look around us and see what we have done to our lives when we have followed our hearts: corruption after corruption of every kind imaginable. Did the Boston marathon bombers not follow their hearts? I bet they did, and actually believing in their hearts that they were doing the right thing.

The first sin of humankind, committed in the Garden of Eden, partially stemmed from pride; Adam and Eve felt they could be on their own without God, and that they were good enough--or deserved--what God did not allow them to have: the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. They only focused on what they wanted, not on what God wanted, just as the apostle Paul wrote, "Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit [the Holy Spirit of God] are thinking about the things the Spirit wants them to do." (Romans 8:5, NCV)

If you claim to be a Christian, what is the focus of your life: you or God? Your obedience or lack of it answers this question.