Obey me fully
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine.” ” (NIV) Exodus 19:5
The above bible quotation was passed from God through Moses to the people of Israel before God handed them the Ten Commandments and the other laws. Man, from Adam, through the Israelites to this present generation has been choosy when it comes to obedience to God. Many a times, obedience to God is based on what makes us comfortable. Even though God gave the Israelites the words in Exodus 19:5 before finally giving Moses the rest of the laws, it was not surprising that before Moses came down from the Mountain of Sinai where God was giving him the rest of the commandments, the Israelites where already sinning against God (Exodus 32).
God is always looking out for man’s interest but man is always going against God at every least opportunity. What is so difficult about obeying God FULLY so we can become His treasured possession? He is not interested in partial obedience. He is interested in total obedience. We have so many churches today because some have decided to go partially contrary to the bible’s teachings with the excuse of drawing people to God. God is never interested in that effort! Winning souls in the wrong way is equal to not winning souls at all. It is better to win one soul the right way than convince yourself that you have won so many souls when in actual fact you are perishing with the souls you claim to have won.
The answer to why man continues to disobey God though God is always looking for man’s interest lies in Romans 7:18-24. Because we are made in the image of God, there is a part of us that wants to obey God and because we are sinners, there is the conflict to obey God or not to. Unfortunately, the sinful nature mostly wins this battle. But thanks be to God again for sending His son, Jesus Christ, to come and die to condemn our sinful nature so we can be led by the spirit (Romans 8). We then have to decide if we want our sinful nature to lead us to disobedience (or partial obedience) to God or we want to be led by the spirit to total obedience to God. I want to be led by total obedience to God, what about you?
The promise attached to total obedience to God is so juicy so just like a little child who has been promised a cake if she passes all her examination papers and all she thinks about is the cake so she puts in her best so she can receive the cake, let us also set our eyes on being God’s treasured possessions so we give off our best in obeying Him fully. Cast your mind to how you will treat something you consider your treasured possession and at least compare it (though not comparable) to how God will treat us if we obey Him fully. God bless you.