Topic: God Wants You to Obey Completely [RICK WARREN Devotional 6 May 2020]
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God Wants You to Obey Completely
“LORD, you gave your orders to be obeyed completely.”
Psalm 119:4 (NCV)God wants you to obey him. That’s a pretty basic truth that you probably wouldn’t disagree with.
But did you know that God has specific ways he wants you to obey him? One of those is that he wants you to obey him completely.
God doesn’t want you to pick and choose which instructions you’ll follow. He wants you to be totally obedient.
Psalm 119:4 says, “Lord, you gave your orders to be obeyed completely” (NCV).
To obey God completely, you need to understand two truths.
First, God’s standard of right and wrong has never changed, and it never will. Culture changes. Popular opinion changes. But truth does not change. If something was wrong 10,000 years ago, it’s still wrong today; if it was right then, it’s right now. Truth is eternal.
Second, God has a bigger perspective than you do. He sees things that you can’t see.
When you try to see from God’s perspective, that’s like an ant trying to see from your perspective. It’s just not going to happen. You’re not capable of seeing like God sees. So you need to trust him.
James 4:11 says, “Your job is not to decide whether [God’s] law is right or wrong, but to obey it” (TLB).
Humanity’s oldest temptation is to doubt God’s Word. When Satan came to Eve in the Garden of Eden, he said, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 NIV).
When you’re tempted, Satan is trying to mess you up in the same way.
You find yourself thinking, “I know the Bible says not to do this, but is this really for me?”
Or you might ask yourself, “Did God really say that?”
Just like he did for Eve, Satan will tempt you to doubt God’s Word.
And when you’re tempted to doubt, remember these two truths: God’s truth never changes, and God’s perspective is bigger than yours. You just need to trust and obey.
- What does it look like to obey God completely? How might that challenge your daily routine or frequent choices?
- How do you face the same kind of temptation that Eve faced in the Garden of Eden?
- What part of God’s Word have you been doubting? What would it look like to trust and obey him?