Is your relationship with Jesus based on intimacy or obedience? Our relationship should include both intimacy and obedience. There are times that we feel intimate, so we assume that we are obedient. At other times we measure our intimacy with our obedience. Intimacy and obedience go hand in hand, and the health of our relationship with Jesus requires both.
What kind of obedience is Jesus looking for?
“IfyouloveMe, keep My commandments”. John 14:15
Jesus told His disciples that they cannot claim they love Him if they are not following His commandments. Just because we get emotional or we cry, it does not mean that we are obedient to God. Our obedience should impact every area of our lives. There are Christians with strong emotions or artistic gifts who can express their love for God through worship, music, or dance, but they cannot show up on time to work or be reliable. They do the work they like to do but not the work they are not as interested in. God expects us to obey Him and be faithful people. Our consistency shows our love towards God. Obedience to Him is following Him on a narrow path and not everyone is interested to be on that path!
Furthermore, Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission by stating:
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; Mark 16:15-17
While salvation is free, we have a responsibility with this gift. Jesus expects us to reach others with the same message that we have received. The Great Commission shows clearly that God has work for all of us to do. Therefore, obedience is necessary to follow His Commission.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23
On the other hand, Jesus is not impressed by our activities apart from having intimate knowledge of Him. The word “know” in the above scripture comes from Greek (ginosko), which means intimate knowledge of someone. These individuals used their spiritual gifts to prophesy and cast out demons, but they did not know Jesus. Somehow, they were busy doing so called “spiritual work”, but they missed the master of the work. It is interesting that Jesus counted their actions as lawlessness because those actions were not birth out of a relationship with Him. They were only motivated by fleshly desires to be seen and to be impressive.
I will continue with this subject and share about our intimacy with Jesus in the next devotional.
