Carefully obey the Lord your God, and faithfully follow all his commands that I’m giving you today. If you do, . . . these are all the blessings that will come to you.
Deuteronomy 28:1–2
Obeying God’s Word can seem not only impossible but downright painful. Saying no to the things you really want is a royal pain, which is why not many people actually do it. After all, why can’t you have what you want when you want it? But can God’s wants and your wants survive together?
Deuteronomy 28 should be your inspiration. God promises a lot to people who obey him instead of their own wants. Sure, this side of Jesus we have God’s kindness that gives us a pardon from all our sins, but the question is this: which is better, pardon from what you’ve done wrong, or the list of blessings in Deuteronomy 28?
Obeying God’s Word clearly offers a lot, lot more than doing whatever you want and then just asking forgiveness ever could. That’s called cheap grace, and all it does is prove how little you truly love the giver of that grace. After all, what shows your love more, your choice to do what he says, or your stubborn insistence on doing whatever you want whenever you want because “he’s so forgiving”? Obedience is clearly the most rewarding choice between those two. If you aren’t sure, spend some time considering the blessings of obedience—not the difficulty but the reward. Rather than being bondage, obedience is freedom. Do one simple act of obedience and haul in the reward. Obedience should be your friend, not an enemy that you fear and avoid. Do what God says to do and you’ll find out that what he says is true.