The Reward of Obedience

​2 Chronicles 26:5 “Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.” ~NLT

When I was growing up, I did not like listening to my dad’s advice.  It wasn’t that he talked too much, or that he liked to hear himself talk. It was because most of what he advised me on was right. He was correct in his advice because of his experience.

But still, I didn’t want to hear it. I would have rather lived my life on the “50/50” chance that my way was the right way. And often enough it wasn’t. This habit rolled right into how I received God’s Word.  I remember reading certain scriptures and saying, “God’s not talking to me.”  Or “This scripture right here, I’ll have to work on. I’m not ‘that’ Christian yet.” 

There is a saying, “If you know better, you do better.” Easy to say and sounds good. So why can’t we put action to these words? It’s because we live our lives, reaping the success of our own actions and effort.

The world gives us these rewards because we pursue them the way the world teaches us too.
But remember, there is nothing the world can give us that God cannot surpass. If we would only live in obedience, we could taste God’s flavor of success and the rewards are more than we could imagine.

For example, as an alcoholic my wife only prayed for me to stop drinking. But because of her obedience, there are so many other changes that have happened to me. I am so much more than what she prayed for, and we both thank God for that! “…Seek Guidance from the Lord…” Try obedience in ‘…doing better…’ and watch what happens in our lives. The success will be more than you can imagine because the victory has already been won!

May God continue to bless and keep you under His umbrella of peace in Jesus’ name.

​Amen

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