With this article, we want to encourage you to treasure these verses about obedience from the Holy Scriptures in your heart. Because the best way to please God is by doing and obeying His good will.
obedience verses
Some people have a misconception of what obedience is, because it is often confused with doing or complying with something by force. But this is not the case, since the word obedience is derived from the verb to obey, which comes from the Latin oboedescere, a compound term that denotes knowing how to listen or listen carefully to what is received as an instruction or command.
So, if you listen carefully and understand the instruction you are receiving, that is, listen, grasp, analyze and reason. Then only then can the instruction be understood, in order to have the freedom to decide what must be done to comply with it.
Otherwise, without understanding, the order or instruction given cannot be followed. In this sense, obedience has its projection in several aspects in society, such as obedience to parents, to the employer, to the laws and others.
In the biblical sense, the Holy Scriptures teach us how important obedience is to God. Therefore, we can find many verses about obedience in the Bible ; later we will show you some of them, indicating the reasons for the need to be obedient. But first, it is necessary to understand why God values obedience so much.
Why is obedience important to God?
Although the Bible speaks to us of obedience from its first text to the last. However, the explanation of why obedience is so important to God is expressed in the book of Deuteronomy.
This book represents the second delivery of the Law of God to Moses to be fulfilled by his people. And in chapter 10 of Deuteronomy, Moses expresses what God asks of his people:
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (TLA): – What does God expect of you ? Simply that you respect and obey him, and that you love and worship him with all your being. 13 God expects you to obey all his commandments, so that it may go well with you.
Later in chapter 12 of Deuteronomy, Moses in the name of God speaks to the people of Israel about the promised blessings and makes them choose:
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 (TLA): 26 -Today you must choose whether you want things to go well for you, or whether you want things to go badly for you. 27 If you obey the commands your God is giving you today, things will go well for you ; 28 but if you disobey them and worship other gods, and stop doing everything I have taught you today, things will go badly for you.
And here it is good to pause and go back to what was said previously, obedience is not an obligation, each person has the ability to discern what is convenient and what is not. This is why obedience to God is so important, because whoever obeys him makes it clear that he understood the instruction, that he listened carefully to God's voice and voluntarily chose to obey him.
Those who obey God's voice understand that the instruction He gives us stems from His immense love for His children. God isn't thinking of His own pleasure, but rather, in His role as Father, He gives instructions for the well-being of His children. Learn more about the love of our Heavenly Father by reading the article: Verses of God's Love for His Children.
Obedience Verses: 8 Biblical Reasons to Be Obedient
The biblical definition of obedience can be said in summary that it is: Listening attentively to the voice of God, trusting in his word and submitting or surrendering from the heart to his good, pleasing and perfect will. Let us now see below how important the virtue of obedience is to God from eight biblical reasons, through verses that speak of obedience.
It is a demonstration of love for God
In Jesus Christ we have the greatest and best example of showing love in obedience. Our Lord obeyed his Father until death, for love of Him and us, Jesus went to the cross knowing that with his death he would obtain the salvation of many for eternal life, that is a demonstration of love.
For his part, the Father and our God, out of love for the world, gave his only begotten son, so that everyone who believed in Him might be saved and all their sins forgiven, that is a demonstration of love. Now Jesus demands us to follow his example and obey God's commandments in demonstration of love for Him:
John 14:15 (TLA): You will show that you love me if you keep my commandments.
It is the offering that pleases God the most.
When we obey his commandments, God receives this offering as a fragrant and pleasant perfume. And it is the least we can do in gratitude for the mercy that God has shown us.
God was pleased, out of love for his Son and for us, to grant us the grace of salvation. We didn't do anything to deserve it even by being obedient. Because obedience is a consequence of seeing the demonstration of love, kindness and mercy that God had for us, that is why the apostle Paul demands of us:
Romans 12:1 (PDT): Therefore, brothers and sisters, since God has shown us such mercy , I urge you to offer your whole being as a living sacrifice to God — this is your true and proper worship.
You get blessings and eternal reward
God through his word promises to bless us if we fulfill or keep his covenant. Even more we who being under grace can fulfill the law from the love of Christ, thus being very easy to fulfill it.
Some verses about obedience tell us that obeying God's voice brings blessings and allows us to obtain eternal rewards. Let's look at some of these verses about obedience below:
Genesis 22:18 (PDT): I also promise that all the nations of the world will be blessed by your offspring, because you obeyed me.
Exodus 19:5 (PDT): Now if you truly listen to me and obey me , I will treat you as my treasured possession. That is, if you truly keep my covenant , although all the peoples of the world belong to me, I will treat you as my people.
Luke 11:28 (PDT): But Jesus said , “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it .”
James 1:22-25 (TLA): 22-24 Obey God's message! If you hear it but don't obey it, you are deceiving yourselves, and it will be like someone who looks in a mirror: as soon as they leave, they forget what they looked like. 25 On the contrary, if you pay attention to God's word and always obey it, you will be happy in everything you do. For God's word is perfect and frees you from sin.
It manifests a fruit or proof of our love for God
The great commandment of the law is to love God and love our neighbor. If we love others as ourselves, we are loving God and fulfilling his first and greatest commandment.
Under the law this was not easy to fulfill, but under the grace of being in Christ it becomes easy to fulfill and obey God, being a manifest fruit of the Spirit:
1 John 5:2-3 (TLA): 2 And we know that we love God and obey his commandments when we also love the children of God. 3 We demonstrate that we love God when we obey his commandments; and obeying them is not difficult.
2 John 6 (TLA): Whoever truly loves also obeys God's commandments . And as you have known from the beginning, God commands us to live loving others always.
Demonstrates a life in Christ
Obeying the voice of God manifests first that we know him and second that we are living a true faith and life in Christ:
1 John 2:4-6 (PDT): 4 Someone may say, “I know God,” but if they do not keep his commandments, they are a liar, and the truth is not in them . 5 For love is perfected when one obeys what God teaches . The proof that we are right with God is this: 6 Whoever claims to live in God must live as Jesus lived.
Demonstrate fidelity to the voice of God
The Bible teaches us that you cannot serve two masters, because sooner or later you will be unfaithful to one in order to obey the other. That is why God is pleased with our total obedience because this is how we demonstrate fidelity to him:
1 Samuel 15:22-23 (PDT): 22 But Samuel said, “ What pleases the Lord more : burnt offerings and other sacrifices, or obeying the Lord’s commands? To obey him is better than offering him sacrifices . To obey him is better than offering him the fat of rams. 231 To refuse to obey him is like witchcraft. To be stubborn and do one’s own will is like the sin of idolatry . You refused to obey the Lord’s command, so now he refuses to accept you as king.”
Restore our fellowship with God
Through Adam's disobedience sin entered the world and with it death, as well as man's separation behind a veil from God. But by the obedience of Jesus the veil is broken and our fellowship with God is restored:
Romans 5:19 (BLPH): And if the disobedience of one man made all sinners, also the obedience of one man has made all men faithful to God.
leads to eternal life
Finally, a very good reason to be obedient is that obedience leads to eternal life:
1 Corinthians 15:22 (TLA): Because of Adam's sin, we were all punished with death; but, thanks to Christ, we can now live again.
We therefore invite you to read these verses about eternal life and salvation in Christ Jesus, or also some verses about hope.