To believe is to obey
To believe is to obey
When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake. Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. “But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.” Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:18-22
When God speaks and you claim you believe Him there should be no delay to respond in obedience. We often act as if we have all the time in the world to obey Him, but history doesn’t wait on our commitments. There is no such thing as postponing a decision with God. Either we obey, or we disobey. It is faith or unbelief, obedience or disobedience. When God announces that now is the acceptable time, what you do next is critical. How often people have ignored a word that came to them from the LORD. This was what the Lord Jesus Christ was addressing from the text. His cause will always be plagued with hangers-on. Superficial faith abounds; what Jesus needs are disciples with deep faith. In another instance, He addressed the relationship between belief and obedience. “And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life” (John 3:36). When God speaks it is always out of the context of eternity. We don’t have to know all the implications of what He is asking. We just have to know that it is a word from Almighty God. Jesus’ call to discipleship is not an invitation to comfort. Nothing will be easy. There will be tough decisions, personal sacrifices, and problems. Obedience is seldom easy, but it is always necessary. “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).
Blessings,
Noel De Guzman
www.my-wbc.com
