Obedience Before Sacrifice

I have been working on this post for months now. It has been a lot of work but I have quite a bit extra written in case I ever write a book on obedience. It took me a while but I am happy to be finishing it. I am also working on a post about waiting on God. I thought this post would be finished yesterday but then it took a turn. I wasn’t sure what image to choose for this blog post and God told me to choose a picture of a cross. I thought that was strange because I didn’t see how it would relate to my post about obedience, and maybe it wasn’t as festive as I envisioned. I had to work even harder because I binge studied because this post took a turn after I chose that image . It’s not that I don’t enjoy learning. It’s just hard work to squeeze the time in, especially around this time of the year. I am tired but I have learned a lot, including why Christmas is such a wonderful holiday.

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of our savior, especially since we know Jesus elected to be born here on earth (John 6:38). He willingly elected to sacrifice his comfort in Heaven to be born here so we can be saved through Him (John 6:40). I believe Christmas is also a time to celebrate the sacrifice He made for us on the cross, and His sacrifice while He was on His way to the cross. The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus were prideful and merciless (Matthew 27:27-31).

The soldiers mocked Jesus by calling him the king of the Jews in a derogatory way. They placed a crown of thorns upon his head and a red robe upon Him symbolizing royalty in a ridiculing way. They even went so far as to place a reed in His hand to mock his royalty, and then took it away and struck Him on the head with it. All of this took place while a crowd was watching. As we can see Jesus was not only physically but also mentally tormented, yet he obeyed God in His calling. He didn’t give up and kept on fighting till it was finished because He loved us praise Jesus.

Obeying God as a part of our calling is not as hard for us as it was for Jesus. If Jesus being in human form can take the pain in obedience and out of love, we can be a little uncomfortable as we obey Him. To obey the Lord is to love the Lord (2 John 1:6). We are instructed to be doers of the word and not just hearers (James 1:22). In the body of Christ we are to preach the gospel into all the world (Mark 16:15). There is the type of obedience to where we refrain from sin. Also there is the type of obedience as part of the body of Christ to follow the Lord’s instructions, so that the hurting and lost can be healed and found. With Jesus living inside of us we are to be the light that shines in this world (2 Timothy 1:14 & Matthew 5:16). We are to show the world that Jesus sets the captives free (Luke 4:13).

If there is anything the Lord wants us to do or not to do we need to obey. Life is short and we don’t have much more time here. Is there anything you can do to walk into your purpose so that God can use you as a light that shines? Some of you won’t obey God’s instructions of how to walk into your calling. If that’s the case sometimes we need to go back if we can and do the first things He put on our mind. Maybe some of those things involve doing something for someome or with someome. Some of us may have shunned someone God wanted us to partner or work with for the advancement of His kingdom. God puts people on your mind for a reason. Who is He putting on your mind? Do you need to make amends? Maybe they can help you and you can help them in some way. Ask God if and why He put someone on your mind. Is there anything you need to do before you can truly shine?

You may be sacrificing your time to try to shine. We can sacrifice our time, fast and pray, but if we don’t sacrifice in obedience to God’s instructions we won’t see the results we are looking for. We can’t do things our own way and expect to see miraculous results. We must do things God’s way to see God ordained results. Do you want to focus on your sacrifice or your obedience to God? If you want to walk into your promises and shine for God I suggest you put obedience before sacrifice.

One example of someone who didn’t always obey the Lord’s instructions was king Saul. The prophet Samuel told Saul to destroy the sinful Amalekites and everything they owned. In disobedience Saul allowed the Israelites to keep the best of the spoil (1 Samuel 15:9). He told Samuel they kept the best of the plunder to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel replied by telling Saul that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). Saul then told Samuel “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” (1 Samuel 15:24). So we see that rather than obeying God, Saul obeyed the people out of fear. We need to make sure we obey God before we obey people. Like Saul said he was afraid. His fear of people cost him his position as king. Don’t let the fear of people hold you back. Do what God wants you to do.

Oh Lord God in Jesus name we want to obey you. We want to walk into all you have for us. Please let us know if there is anything holding us back from what you have promised, whether it is sin or a lack of obedience to your instructions. We love you father and look forward to being a light that shines for you!

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice in obedience to his father (God). Anyone can be adopted into His family and be a part of the body of Christ if they accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. If you would like to be adopted in please say this prayer: God I believe you sent your son Jesus here to earth so that I can have eternal life. Jesus I believe that you died on the cross and rose again on the third day. I recieve your Holy Spirit to guide me so I can be one with you in the body of Christ and have eternal life. Thank you father.