Obedience. It is a word that we learn as children, yet it is such an important word in the life of a believer. Sometimes, being able to obey God is easy. Yet, there are moments in life when we must make the decision to obey God or give into the will and wants of man and that can be hard to do. There are times that our obedience to God will bring us suffering and hardship, however we must be willing and ready to say yes to God, stick to our convictions and obey what He has called us to do, even when we know that doing so may cost us everything. In Acts 5, Peter and the apostle were faced with such a decision. They were on trial for preaching and sharing the truth of the gospel. They were reminded that they had been previously told to stop doing so. Yet in the moment they could have backed down, this is what is recorded in scripture: “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” – Acts 5:29.
There are times that we will feel the pressure to back down from our convictions and from doing the right things. Naturally, we expect these things from those who do not call themselves Christians. Yet, there will be times that those who identify as Christians will pressure us to see things there way, to do what they want, to cave in our convictions about what God’s Word says. What will we do? Will we follow them and do what they want or like Peter and the other apostles, say we will obey God.
The late Dr. Charles Stanley said it best this way best in his Life Principles. “Obey God and leave the consequences to Him.”
Obeying God doesn’t mean that it will be easy and we won’t face hardships for doing so. Even though Peter and the apostles escaped death in this moment captured in Acts 5, they still had to endure a beating by those who opposed them and their message. How did they respond? In verse 41, it says they counted it a joy to suffer for His name and in verse 42 they kept on doing what God would have them do, teaching and preaching about Jesus.
There is such blessing in obedience!
~ Insights for the Journey is a weekly devotional from Pastor Christopher Clark to engage, encourage and equip believers in their Christian journey. This devotional and others can also be found on our website: www.cordovabc.org/insights_for_the_journey. ~
