If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 1:19-20, ESV
Can you answer the title question? What does it mean to be obedient? You’d be surprised how many different answers you can get to this question.
Last Sunday, I taught our Rock City kids (K-6th grade) about what it means to obey. We developed a pretty biblically-rooted definition. “Obedience is doing what I’m told to do, when I’m told to do it, with a right heart attitude.” This was the main point for the kids to learn.
Here’s a question. As adults, do we follow this definition? With our boss? Our spouse? Our spiritual leaders? As I taught this lesson to elementary age kids, I was challenged with how much of the adult generation in the church fails to walk in obedience, or even really have a good definition of the word.
Simply doing what you’re asked isn’t obedience if you have to be asked multiple times and you have a bad attitude while you do it. Obedience is hard work.