Is Obedience Necessary?

by Danette Reeves

“And Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:22-23a, ESV).

When I was in college, Keith Green sang a song about obedience. I remember thinking at that time that it was harsh. In all honesty, sometimes I still do. Even though I may not agree with all of the lyrics, he wrote some very thought-provoking words:

“To obey is better than sacrifice. I don’t need your money; I want your life. And I hear you say that I’m coming back soon, but you act like I’ll never return.”

Another portion reads: “Well, you speak of grace and my love so sweet. How you thrive on milk but reject my meat!”

I was a young Christian then and had not been taught about obedience to God’s Word. I spent many years feasting on milk and accomplishing my daily check-off list: Read my Bible verse, pray, thank God, ask forgiveness, forgive others, tell Him what I want, and do it again the next day.

When one is a student of the Word, we see that the Bible teaches obedience is central to our Christian life and goes far beyond milk and the easy fluff. Jesus calls us to the hard stuff when He says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34). In Luke, He states it even firmer, “If anyone would come after Me, let him take up his cross DAILY and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Take up my cross DAILY? Really?

That is the call to obedience. To live daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, following Jesus. It sounds great until my feet hit the floor in the mornings, and I realize this is more than reading my Bible verse and saying a quick prayer. It is my heart, my inner being, my whole life. It is Jesus calling me to follow Him closely, living out His ministry His way and denying myself.

If I truly believe Jesus is coming soon, will I not throw off all distractions and run to follow Him? What does that even look like? 2 Peter 1:5-11 tells us to “make EVERY

effort to supplement our faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and selfcontrol with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” He says that if we are growing in these qualities, we will be effective and fruitful. In other words, we will take up our crosses and follow Jesus. Obedience. Is it necessary?

Jesus states in Matthew 10:38, “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of Me.” Yes, obedience IS necessary.

About The Author Danette Reeves and her husband, Charlie, live in Cleveland, Tennessee. They attend The Church at Grace Point. One of their joys is being Oma and Opa to four grandchildren. Her heart’s desire is to be a student and a teacher of the Word, and a consistent follower of Jesus.