Fearfull Obedience

[Enoc]

I haven't been hurt like people calling me names, or they are being racist or anything like that. People are nice to me when I go to church. They'll shake my hand and sometimes even hug me. But they always form friendships that don't even include me. When I was a youth, I would go on a youth group trip like Acquire the Fire. They would be nice to me but they didn't include me as they were forming friendships. Also, when I going to this smaller church, the same thing. People would invite each other for dinner and just hang out outside the church. They would be loving and nice to me, but they did not include me in their plans. It hurt me. It's just the church, it's the rest of the world. Same thing happened in college. There is something wrong with my personality; and I can't seem to change it.

 

 

Try sowing seeds of friendship, and just like all thinks that grow it will take time to produce fruit.

 

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.

[Johnlove]

Is it sin to obey God out of fear?

Why you obey is not important, just obey.

[Jesse2014]

Thank you, Johnlove. I won't worry about it any more.

[Jesse2014]

Hi Dak. To answer your question. Yes, this is why I struggled. I obey out of fear. Don't get me wrong, my obedience was not perfect. But I tried, and my reason for trying was fear.

[j102]

Yes we should obey but it should be based on love not fear. A love based obedient heart is more genuine than a fear based obedient heart.

[Jesse2014]

You are probably right but I am not completely there yet.

[Dak]

Hi Dak. To answer your question. Yes, this is why I struggled. I obey out of fear. Don't get me wrong, my obedience was not perfect. But I tried, and my reason for trying was fear.

Hi Jesse. I'm very glad that you're still here

And I'm very glad also that the light has shone upon you! NOW YOU ARE SURE OF YOUR SALVATION! Praise God! Hallelujah!

And now I have another good news for you:

ESV > Romans 3:21-24

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law... the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Jesse, no one's obedience is perfect. My own obedience to God is not perfect, for I myself still struggle with some sins. And even the saintliest of us all still sin sometimes. As the passage above tells you, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Therefore, all we can do is to do our best -- to do our best pleasing God by our obedience, but we must never expect our obedience to be perfect. In fact, God doesn't expect it of us. He knows that we are only human and have our many weaknesses -- this is why he sent Jesus to save us and die for us, because he knows that we can never save ourselves. The important thing to God about obedience is that we have obeyed, even if imperfectly, and that we have done it because of our love for him... and of our desire to give him pleasure.

~

[Fez]

 

Is it sin to obey God out of fear?

Why you obey is not important, just obey.

 

Nonsense!

 

You cannot Love that which you fear.

[Dak]

Is it sin to obey God out of fear?

Why you obey is not important, just obey.

Nonsense!

You cannot Love that which you fear.

I'm with Fez.

Sorry, I should have said something earlier.

~

[Johnlove]

 

 

Is it sin to obey God out of fear?

Why you obey is not important, just obey.

 

Nonsense!

 

You cannot Love that which you fear.

 

Fear?  You believe I obey God because he is fearful? 

 

Well Jesus did tell us to be scared of the one who can destroy both body and soul.  But that is not why I obey God.

No, I glorify Jesus because he is God.

 

I have always wanted to be able to live a righteous life, and only God can make that possible.

 

It was not until Jesus came to me personally, and gave me his Holy Spirit was my desire to live righteously able to come true.

 

Jesus is my personal friend, he is my doctor, my teacher, my protector, and much more of a friend than anyone else ever could.

 

I don’t obey God out of fear.  No I obey God because my whole being wants to always please him, and in doing so I am so alive.

 

My prayer every day is that God’s will, will be my will forever, and ever.

 

John said where there is fear there is no love.  One who is fearful of God could never be righteous.