Why should I personally obey God? I have thought about this question for some time and have come up with a simple yet all encompassing answer: Because He is GOD! His character, perfections, and attributes are many and are mostly all unfathomable. I made a small list of these that mean the most to me that I could answer this question with. Here's why I should obey God.
He is omniscient. God's knowledge extends to everything past, present, and future. He knows everyone's thoughts, intents, motives, decisions, possibilities, etc… at all times and has known them forever. He knows everything about us, nature, the world, the universe, heaven, hell, and even the materials your shoes are made of and where they came from. God knows EVERYTHING! 1 John 3:20b (NASB-U) says, "For God is greater than our heart and knows all things." Matthew 10:30 (NASB-U) says, "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Romans 11:33 (NLT) says, "Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods!" Isaiah 40:14 (NIV) says, "Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?" God knows everything, has always known everything, and needed no one to tell Him any knowledge He did not already know.
He is omnipotent. God can do anything He wants to do. He has the power to create anything or destroy anything. His power is unlimited and unmatched. He has power and control over everything. His power though, has to be consistent with His nature. Jeremiah 32:17 (NLT) says, "O Sovereign Lord! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power. Nothing is too hard for you!"
He is omnipresent. God is everywhere all the time; and all the time, God is everywhere. He has no limit to where He can be at any given time and can be everywhere He wants all at the same time. Jeremiah 23:23-24 (NLT) says, "'Am I a God who is only in one place?' asks the Lord. 'Do they think I cannot see what they are doing? [24] Can anyone hide from me? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?' asks the Lord."
He is holy. God is distinctively different and set apart from anything else. No one is like Him and no one will ever be like Him. He is 100% pure and good. He is totally separate and free from any uncleanliness, evil, and defilement. Leviticus 11:44 (NLT) says, "After all, I, the Lord, am your God. You must be holy because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves by touching any of these animals that scurry along the ground." Isaiah 40:25 (NIV) says, "'To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One."
He is sovereign. God has complete and ultimate control of everything in existence. He makes all things happen for His purpose. This does not mean that He controls us like puppets, micromanages everything, and doesn't let us choose or have freewill. He lets things happen that sometimes He wouldn't want to happen but is necessary to fulfill His purpose. Job 42:2 (NLT) says, "I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you." Daniel 4:35 (NIV) says, "All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: 'What have you done?'" Psalm 135:6 (NLT) says, "The Lord does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths."
He is love. I cannot actually fully comprehend this one. God's love is way beyond my imagination or knowledge. I will try and attempt to say what I do know about His love though. 1 John 4:8-10 (NASB-U) says, "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. [10] In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." John 3:16 (NIV) says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Romans 5:8-9 (NIV) says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" Wow! Why God loves us this much is way beyond my understanding. This though is the greatest example of love that has ever been expressed. That is why God is love as John says. His love is not just limited though to His love He expressed by sacrificing His Son, but He also loves us by discipline, rebuke, and judgment. He knows exactly how to love us and what we need. That is true love. His perfect love is shown through His perfect grace, His perfect mercy, and His perfect goodness.
He created me. This is pretty simple but is essential to answering this question. Because God made me He owns me and it is my obligation to obey Him, it is only natural to obey Him, and He wants me to obey Him. He also showed me His perfect love even before I obeyed Him by sacrificing His Son to die for my sins; and because I accepted that free gift of salvation from judgment on my sins, I should obey Him even more. He bought me with the blood of His Son and gave me new life by Jesus rising from the dead.
He has proved Himself worthy to be obeyed. Throughout the Old Testament and New Testament God has shown love to His people and to the world even when He needed no proof to be obeyed but He did anyways. He gave everyone a chance to personally see, hear, or read what He has done to prove that He is worthy to be obeyed and praised. He has done this through His creation and through His written Word. No one is without excuse to obey Him because of creation but we can know Him better through His Word. And this is why I should personally obey God. Enough said.
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