how to live abundantly
It’s ingrained in our nature to want to do what we want, when we want, and how we want.
Seriously, just picture standing in line at the store and hearing a toddler start screaming because his parents said he couldn’t get a new toy.
When we’re told to do something that goes against our desires in that moment, it’s easy to ignore what someone says and do the opposite.
Listening to what someone is telling us to do is hard.
Yet, from a young age, we’re taught to obey our parents. They are the ones in authority over us and are older and wiser than we are, so we are supposed to listen to their directives.
In the context of a healthy parent/child relationship, the parents want what is best for their child(ren) and their yes’s or no’s are reflective of that.
Maybe that child was told no in the store because getting the toy would make them feel entitled to receive something new each time they went shopping.
Just like the child didn’t understand the reasoning behind his parent’s decision, so it can be when God tells us to do or not do something.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO WALK IN OBEDIENCE?
Wouldn’t it be easier and more fun to do what we want, because we know it could make us happy and allow us to enjoy life?
The Bible reminds us that Jesus came to give us life and life to the full (John 10:10).
Psalm 119:44 – 45 says, “I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”
There is freedom in obeying the Lord!
God’s boundaries in life provide more freedom
than if we had complete and total freedom.
There is joy in doing and not doing certain things, because it is ultimately for our good.
Paul puts it perfectly in Romans. He says that “the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace (8:6). When we choose to put off our desires and obey the Lord, there is life and peace!
HOW CAN WE ACTIVELY SEEK TO OBEY GOD?
It starts with a posture of surrender to the Lord. A desire to put to death our flesh and its desires.
It’s doing the hard thing and taking up our cross to follow the Lord, which may look like obedience that the world doesn’t understand. Or even obeying the Lord when it goes against what we really want in that moment.
It requires us to invite others into our life who will hold us accountable in the everyday, with the small things, who will call us out when we’re complaining or letting jealousy permeate our minds.
It won’t be easy.
It is hard.
But there is a great reward for obedience to God who knows what is good for us—abundant life.
~Laura