Ephesians (6:1, NIV) says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Obedience means following a rule, request, or law from a higher authority – like God, your parents or your teachers, for example.
In the Bible, when God’s people followed His righteous commands, they were happy and received blessings. We trust and obey God because:
1) He loves us and has our best interests in mind,
2) His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, (see Isaiah 55:8,9) and
3) We can’t see the full picture of our lives like He can.
For instance, imagine attending a parade. As you watch the decorated floats pass by, you can only see what is directly in front of you, and maybe a bit ahead or behind if you turn your head.
Now imagine God in heaven, who can see the ENTIRE parade from above, from start to finish. (see Isaiah 46:10) When it comes to His plan for all of humanity, He knows the beginning, the end, and everything in between. He has all of the information but we do not.
Jesus is an excellent example of perfect obedience. Throughout his life and ministry, as God’s representative on earth, Jesus always obeyed the will of his father. Hebrews (5:8, Berean Study Bible) says, “…he learned obedience from what he suffered.” This means that he learned to be obedient under pressure – the pressure of enduring many extremely difficult experiences. Despite everything he went through, he carried out his Father’s will perfectly, succeeding at every turn!
Obedience goes along with humility, which is the quality of not thinking too highly of yourself, of being humble. Jesus was certainly humble. Speaking about him, Philippians (2:8, NASB) says, “…he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (2:9, NIV) “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,…”
Jesus received this incredible reward because of his willing obedience, humility and faithfulness. Let’s try our best to copy these qualities that please God so much!
So, what is obedience? It’s following rules, requests or laws, like the ones from God, our parents and our teachers. We choose to obey God’s righteous principles because His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. (see Isaiah 55:8,9) We put our faith and trust in Him because He can see the long-term, big picture of His plan, and we cannot. Just like a loving parent, He knows what is best for us, so it’s always wise to trust and obey Him!