[Feature Story] Seven Types of Disobedience and Keys to Obedience

When God created the first man, Adam, He gave him freewill. He blessed him to live in the abundant Garden of Eden as the lord of all creation, but He forbade one thing.

Why did the God of love and blessings forbid it?

This is because He wanted to gain true children who obey God out of freewill and love Him and share His love with Him forever. Therefore, the significance of obedience can't be over-emphasized. Obedience leads to blessings, but disobedience leads to disaster.

Then, why can't we obey?

We hope you will become blessed believers who obey truly by realizing the reasons why you can't obey in your lives.


"… Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry …" (1 Samuel 15:22-23).


1. You disobey due to lack of ability

Nothing is impossible in the Lord. We can obey with the grace and power of God by committing everything to God and relying on Him. But, sometimes we disobey because we don't have knowledge or experience sufficient to follow our superior's instructions. At times we might not even make an attempt to obey because we know our performance will fall short of his expectations. Therefore, what's really important in obedience is the attitude with which we try our best to overcome our limitations one by one.


2. You disobey even when you have the capacity to obey

In this case, you have no intention to obey in the first place, so this situation is more evil-hearted than the first case. Those who fall under this category are lazy and hate being instructed or commanded. There are some people who remain passive without saying or doing anything because they fear that they might not obey. Because they didn't actually do anything wrong, they think they have no problems. These people should realize that they can't overcome limitations with such an attitude and they have to cast off their attitudes of laziness and try harder to learn.


3. You disobey because you feel you can't do anymore and stop

In this case people not only have no intention to obey, but they also have no sense of responsibility. We have to try our best to carry out superiors' instruction and achieve the goal as long as it doesn't violate the truth. For example, you can visit those who know much about what you are going to do when you are given task that is beyond your ability. You can also give authority to more skillful people. You might disobey while doing something as a result of greed. Therefore, you have to look for proper co-workers and work together in these cases.


4. You disobey when things don't agree with your thoughts

Sin and evil were rampant in Nineveh when God commanded Jonah to preach in Nineveh so that the people there could repent of their sins. But Jonah fled to Tarshish because he wanted Nineveh to fall. In this case, he disobeyed because of his own self-righteousness. If we disobey like this we can't avoid trials and difficulties until we demolish such fleshly thoughts. We should give up our thoughts and opinions even if they look right in our view if that is God's will. When we do, we have become men of disobedience.


5. You disobey because you make things agree with your thoughts

In 1 Samuel Chapter 15, God told Saul the King to utterly destroy all that Amalek had and put to death both men and women, but Saul disobeyed by sparing Agag, the King of Amalek, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, and the lambs. He spared all that was good and he destroyed things that were worthless. Since he did things in accordance with his thoughts, he ended up being abandoned by God. If you disobey His will due to greed, selfish-motives, and lust despite your knowledge of God's will, it is to stand against God and cover His glory. So you should turn away. But if you don't turn away and you just work according to your thoughts, you will have nothing to do with God and you can't receive salvation either.


6. You disobey because of discontent

In John Chapter 12, Mary brought an expensive vial of perfume to Jesus, anointed His feet with it, and then washed His feet. Judas Iscariot said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?" He said so not because of his care for the poor but because of his greed and discontent. He kept disobeying Jesus, and ended up selling out Jesus in return of 30 pieces of silver. This is the evil of evils, and irreversible lawlessness. Although you are used at first, you might be abandoned later. Therefore, we should throw away hard-feelings and discontent like hot-tempters, jealousy, discomfort, anger, and aggression.


7. You disobey because you don't want to obey

People in this case don't have faith itself, and they haven't formed the trust relation yet. Simply put, they don't want to obey in the first place. Even though they go to church, they don't believe in God's Word, they stand against God's Word, or their consciences have become seared. They have nothing to do with salvation.

But when we cast away all these kinds of fleshly thoughts and have only the truth in us, then we can obey and see the works of God's power. Therefore, we can obey truly when we demolish fleshly thoughts and when we receive God's grace and strength. We can demolish fleshly thoughts by the fiery prayer and receive God's grace and strength through the help of the Spirit.

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