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“This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.” 2 John 6

As Christians, we are called to obey God’s Word—the Bible. The whole thing. “That’s a lot of stuff,” you’re probably thinking. But, during His earthly ministry, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ summed up everything into two rules: Love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40). On one hand, there are just two “simple” commandments…but on the other hand, they truly do encompass the rest of the Bible—and it’s a definite challenge to stay on track.

But there’s very good news: First, when we choose to surrender our lives to Jesus, accepting His free gift of salvation by grace, we are immediately given the Holy Spirit to live in us, empowering us to walk the walk of obedience. We’re not traveling alone, in our own effort!

Second, we are called to step-by-step faith. Sometimes, when we have our eye on the long game, the thought of traveling there in perfect stride the whole way can be really overwhelming. Plus, most times, God doesn’t necessarily give us the “big picture” of His will—but He will give us the first step…and this is where we can have confidence. The first step of faith is what He wants of us. Look at Abraham. He was called to go. He was promised an inheritance, but wasn’t told where to go. God told him to step out in faith, and he did (Hebrews 11:8-10).

Finally, as long as we’re living in this broken world, housed in our decaying body, we will not—cannot—be perfectly obedient. We will sin and fall short. I always get encouraged by the Apostle Paul. His transformation after his encounter with Jesus was amazing. He went from persecuting and overseeing the death of Christians to being the evangelist of all evangelists (and being persecuted himself). He was brilliant and passionate and dedicated to bringing as many people to Jesus as he could. He set a very high bar. But even Paul wrote about how he did what he didn’t want to do (sin) and didn’t do what he knew he should (Romans 7:14-25).

Picture obedience to God’s Word as walking on a stone path (a path laid upon the narrow road we first stepped upon at salvation). As we walk toward our eternal Home, we will trip up. We’ll place our foot to the right or the left of the stones. We may even meander or backtrack a bit. But, dear sister, we must keep putting one foot in front of the other, with love of God and love for others as our guide. Let’s keep moving in the direction of obedience.

“Lord, obedience to You is love. As I make my way Home, thank You for the Holy Spirit and Your Word to help me walk in a way that glorifies You.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life