Obedience To Christ

Hebrews 5:9
Once made perfect, he [Christ] became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

When we think of salvation we often think of a one-time decision that seals the deal, and all is said and done. While that is true, to an extent, salvation does not give us a free-for-all in life. I love this verse, because it reminds us that as believers in Christ, as His followers, we need to obey. Christ tells us in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will obey what I command."

Obedience can be a difficult topic, because really, we all fall short of perfect obedience in so many ways. The key is that we get up and try again, and again, and again. But we need to remember that obedience is part of the "deal." Now, it’s not a deal-breaker. There never comes a point where we have "out-sinned" our salvation - believe me, I’ve tried in so many ways. But when we come to believe in Christ, it is more than a mere intellectual ascent. When we truly come into a saving relationship with Christ, that relationship will create in us a desire to obey, and the Spirit will give us the ability to obey.

Many of us, when we accepted Christ and His sacrifice for us simply said, "Come into my life, so that I can go to heaven," or, "so that I don’t go to hell." Perhaps we took it a step farther and asked to be set free in some way. It was a simple belief and that was the extent of the transaction. But when we have truly bowed to Christ and His authority, the Spirit comes into our lives, and begins to grow and mature us. As we grow and mature, we begin to realize that our life in Christ is now, and we should be reflecting that. We should begin to see the fruit in our lives, and when we are disobeying and wandering off the path, we should feel some heavy pressure from the Holy Spirit.

When we bowed to Christ’s authority, we gave him our eternity, and along with it our deeds, our thoughts, our actions - our entire lives - everything about us now belongs to Him. And just as a parent can expect a child to obey, or a master can expect a servant to obey, so Christ expects us to obey. Not that we’ll be cut-off if we don’t, but if we truly love Him, and call ourselves His followers, than obedience should be more than just a long word.