Obedience Begins with Surrender

Bible Verse:
With what shall I come to the LORD and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Mic 6:6-8

My thought for today is the simple and completely logical though often-difficult requirements of God. We tend to make life complicated through rules and regulations. We were made in the image and likeness of God and therefore we want order, we must have order and if we see ambiguity or chaos we try and order that with more do’s and don’t’s because all we want is order.

God gave us His requirements for life. They are not long and hard to understand. There simple elegance may scare us to death, but the truth is that we don’t want to follow them because we will need to surrender our will to that of the Father. This is the foundation of true order in the universe.

If we as a people were to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God we would not be in the mess that we are in. We would have no war. There would be no immorality for it is an idol that comes between us and God. There would be no anger or malice because justice, love and unmerited favor would rule our day and forgiveness would be our rear guard.

Life is simple when we are with God, when our actions work to glorify His name, when we are thinking the way He things and acting the way He acts. It only gets complicated when our selfishness gets in the way of our relationship with God and each other.

Take a close look at your own life. Is there something that continues to come between you and God? Do you want more of God or more of your own way? Is life about satisfying the desires of your heart or praising the name of the One who has given us life? We can make a difference in the world, but the change begins we you and I and it begins today. Let us be purposeful in our walk of faith to do justice, to love kindness and walk humbly before our God.

Bob