Genesis 3:11-13
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
We all know this story very well, and from the beginning, to this day, the root problem of human beings remain. DISOBEDIENCE!
What is the first word most children learn when they are able to speak? NO!
That should tell us something right there! And from our first words all through life we see the sin of disobedience in our lives and in the lives of our closest friends and family. And then when we have children of our own, they continue the cycle and we see ourselves in our children, doing the same things we did and becoming more disobedient than we were!
How can we stop being disobedient? The only way is JESUS!
Jesus is the only One who can deliver us from evil, forgive us of our sins, baptize us with the Holy Spirit, and walk with us as we go through the many stages of growth as a Christian.
Another clear example of what happens when we disobey is the story of King Saul in 1st Samuel. God sent His prophet Samuel to Saul and gave him direct commandments to perform, but Saul did not obey the word of the Lord. He did some of what God said, but not all, therefore God rejected Saul as King. We can't just do some of God's commands and leave some out and then think we are obeying, we must do everything God commands us!
1st Samuel 15:10-11, 17-23
"Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.”
"So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
"And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
"So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
Saul contradicted himself as he spoke, saying he obeyed the voice of the Lord, BUT, he brought back Agag and allowed his soldiers to bring back the best sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord. He disobeyed the direct commandments of God and he paid the consequences of it!
Isn't it better to obey ALL the Lord says?
The choice is yours!
In Jesus,
Tyrone
