Respect to Obey

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and [a]manifest Myself to him.” — John 14:15, 21 NKJV

The other day, I read a post by Pastor Shun Strickland, and she mentioned that someone at her church during corporate prayer prayed the following: “Lord, we respect You enough to obey You.”

That really struck me.

As I meditated on that prayer, I heard God ask, "Do YOU respect Me enough to obey Me?”

While sitting in silence, I began to ask myself some questions:

What does respect look like?

How do you demonstrate obedience?

I thought about how people in the office (that say they are Christians) apologize to me for cursing, but don’t respect what God says about cursing. I think about the many times I say one thing about my relationship with God, but my actions are completely opposite.

Dictionary.com defines respect as “to hold in esteem or honor; to show regard or consideration for”.

If we truly hold God in esteem or honor, why is it often difficult to obey Him?

Jesus said in John 14:15 and John 14:21 that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. In other words, our obedience is a demonstration of our love. Joshua 1:8 tells us that we are not just supposed to read the Word or observe it, but we are to “observe to do according to all that is written therein.” Romans 2:13 and James 1:22 also reiterate this point by reminding us that we are not supposed to only hear the Word, but we are to do it. So, our love for God should translate to respect, which should yield obedience.

I’d like to challenge you to join me in making a conscious effort to not just be an observer or hearer of the Word, but to be a doer. Let our actions truly show that we respect God enough to obey Him.

Until next week…

Be blessed, but first comes obedience!

Rev. Robin