From The Editor

Are You Obedient or Disobedient?

Lord, give me the strength to be Your obedient child. May I say “yes” to whatever You send me. And remind me, Jesus, to be just as obedient with the small and trivial areas of my life as I am with the big and significant. Amen.

Growing up I didn't do a lot of the things that my friends were doing. It wasn't because I didn't want to participate; my conscience would get the best of me. My conscience was my father. I would always seem to hear him talking about the principles and morals he and my mother taught me. Aside from that, the main reason I didn't conform to the peer pressure was because I was scared of my father. The last thing I wanted to do was face the consequences of my actions. My father was a no nonsense type of person and if there was something you shouldn't be doing, then you shouldn't be doing it.

Don't get me wrong, there were times when I didn't follow all the rules or applied bits and pieces of them to benefit me in what I wanted to do. At the time, I didn't realize that bending my parent's rules meant I was bending God's rules. Maxine Hancock was quoted as saying, “It is in the home that the child learns the basic principle of accountability for actions: first to those around him, and ultimately to God.”

As long as I allowed peer pressure to get the best of me, the more I used God's word to justify my wrong doing. I knew if I continued to be disobedient to my parents; I was being disobedient to God. It didn't take long for me to realize that leading a disobedient life would lead to destruction. However, if I lived an obedient life, God would lead me to my destiny. Being obedient meant God was moving me to a place where He could work on me.

When God begins to work on you, you quickly begin to divorce yourself from certain situations. During the separation, you will notice some friends will drop off your list. Your desire to go certain places will deteriorate. Your worldly things are no longer a part of your destiny. You also will observe your faith getting stronger, your love for God deepens, and your desire to be a better person grows.

Since my transformation, I have learned to live by God's rules wholeheartedly instead of straddling the fence and only applying the pieces that benefit my flesh.

Job 36:11 (NIV) states: “If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.”

Remaining obedient to Him,
Inita Hatter

Epitome Home Page