One of the most important reasons we infrequently have a weak religion is our faulty view of God. Of course, he is so enormous, how could we ever actually get a correct portrait of what he appears to be, how He acts, and how He feels about us personally? Let’s think about what Jesus expounded. He let us know that if we would like to know what God the Father is like, we must look toward the Son. The Savior expounded, “He who saw Me saw the Father” (John 14:9).
We will be able to know the Father because we are able to know Jesus. And when we have a look at the way Jesus treated the people around Him, we get a good picture of God’s love. Consider the girl at the well in today’s Scripture passage. This was a lady who had been outcast by society. The incontrovertible fact that she came to the well at that particular time of day - a time when no-one else was around - shows that her exclusion from the townspeople wasn’t just their idea ; she herself felt the necessity to stay isolated. But what did Jesus do? He loved her. He accepted her. He gave her what no-one else would give: respect and attention.
That’s what He does for us as well. God doesn’t want us weighed down by guilt, shame, and heart-ache. Nor does He would like us to be isolated from people. Instead, He calls us to be an active partaker in His dominion. Have you cut yourself off from those around you? Take hold of your Savior’s hand today, and experience the enjoyment of His acceptance.
Obedience is a learned process, not a natural one. Just look at a two-year-old to see the unnaturalness doing what one is told. Live with a teen for some time to see the superiority of rebellion over compliance. Only when we are born again into new life in Christ and set free from slavery to sin (Romans 6:6) and obeying God becomes a possibility.
To make obedience a reality in our life, we want to learn many things. First we must develop the art of waiting on God in prayer. It is to be an active waiting time, during which we learn of His personality (Matthew 6:9), inspect our own (Matthew 6:12) and attempt to understand what he is asking. As we practice careful listening, we are going to learn to recognize His voice (John 10:4, 14) and to understand what God is asserting as He speaks from His Spirit to our spirit.
We want to resist outside pressure, exercise self-control, and wait. Tied closely to living an obedient life is meditating on Scripture. (Psalm 119:15) Meditation means reading Scripture and asking ourselves questions: What do these verses teach me about God or myself? Is there an example here to follow or avoid? Is this a command, a guarantee, or an alert that I should apply? What action do I must take to align my life with this truth? These 2 non secular disciplines - waiting in prayer and meditating on Scripture - are foundational to the obedient life. If either is weak, we may waver. To develop a pattern of trustworthy obedience, do something to embrace both.