Obeying God Rather Than Men

Photo of St. Peter, Artwork by diablana81 

God is worthy of our obedience. We should be more concerned about obeying Christ than we are about obeying, or pleasing, the people around us.  

Scripture:

"But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: 'We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.'”  -Acts 5:29-32, NKJV 

God’s commitment to us demands our unbridled obedience. Jesus has given Himself completely for us on the cross. God raised Christ from the dead and has defeated sin and death on our behalf.

Because of what Jesus has done, we can have Him as Lord and Savior of our lives. In Him we have the ability to turn from our old ways of living. We have forgiveness of our sins. God gives us this and His very presence and assurance in His Holy Spirit.

Reflection Questions:

In what ways do you find yourself obeying man, rather than God?

How have you experienced Jesus as Prince and Savior?

How has Jesus given you repentance and forgiveness of sins? In what ways do you need these things?

How has God's Spirit bore witness to these things in your life?

Prayer:

“Almighty and eternal God, draw our hearts to you, guide our minds, fill our imaginations, control our wills, that we may be completely yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, p. 832)

Do Whatever Jesus Tells You To Do

Cana, photo by Seetheholyland.net

“[Jesus’] mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” –John 2:5

What do you believe about Jesus? What does your life say about what you believe about Jesus? These are very important questions for us to consider and for us to ask ourselves as we follow Jesus with our lives. 

One of the greatest messages in the New Testament, in my opinion, comes from Mary, the mother of Jesus, in John 2:1-12. Here at a wedding in Cana in Galilee, Mary asks Jesus to do something about a dire situation at the wedding feast. The wine had run out in an embarrassing turn of events at the feast and this threatened to end the festivities prematurely.

Jesus responds with initial resistance, saying to Mary, “My hour has not yet come.” Then, “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you’” (John 2:5). It is at this point that Jesus does His first recorded miracle. He takes the six water pots, which were for ceremonial washing and cleansing, holding about 120-180 gallons of water, and He turns the water into wine. This blesses the couple and the occasion and the celebration is able to continue.

In the book of James the author states that you can tell a lot about what someone believes by looking at what they do. James says, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds (James 2:18).” Our beliefs affect how we live our lives and how we live our lives illustrates what it is we believe.

So, what do our deeds say about what we believe about Jesus? If someone were wondering if we were following Jesus, could they tell if we were following Jesus by looking at our lives and by looking at where we are headed?

Just this week the printer was acting up in the teacher workroom and it would not print my work, no matter what I did to try and solve the problem. When I went to the printer to assess the situation, it said, “printing,” but it was not printing. I took no comfort in the fact that the printer was telling me that it was printing, when it was in fact doing nothing of the sort. What the printer was saying and what it was doing were two completely different things.

I proceeded to reflect on this “printer incident” for the rest of the day. I thought to myself, “This is exactly what we do in our relationship with Christ sometimes.” I wondered if Jesus was looking at my life and asking, “Are you really following me?” We say we are Christ followers, and if someone looked at our label it may read, “Following Jesus,” but are we really following Jesus? Do our lives say that we are following Jesus? Are we doing whatever He says to do?