Do you fast on a
full stomach…only between the meals and snacks you desire? Probably not, or at least you don’t consider
that practice to be a form of spiritual service. But is your service to God comparable to
this. Today, fasting on a full stomach
will represent OBEDIENCE without SUBMISSION.
Can a person
obey without submission? Ask your
children. They sometimes obey (Ephesians
6:1), but do it without honoring (vs. 2).
When we obey God like this, we aren’t doing it because we submit to His
authority, but because we perceive some benefits of obeying. If
I’m not truly dedicated to God, but I obey His command to be faithful to my
wife…my life will be better because I obeyed.
If I do good to them that do evil to me…I’ll reap benefits from that
behavior. But, on Judgment Day, That
type of obedience will not help me one bit.
Jesus spoke of people who would boast of their “service” to God on
Judgment Day, but to them the Lord would reply, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23). Just like the man who fasted on a full
stomach…even though at times he “just happened” to be engaging in an activity
that can be pleasing to God…He was NOT “doing the will of the Father.”
Perhaps you are
“obeying” God in the same manner as the poor souls mentioned above. You attend all the services of the Church and
go through the motions, while harboring hatred for a brother or sister. You teach others the truth of the gospel, but
don’t even do the things you are teaching.
The Pharisees were kings and queens of “obedience without submission.” They knew all the right things to do and say,
but they never committed them to their hearts.
Don’t be fooled
into thinking God would ever accept a faith that obeys but is empty of love and
submission to Him.
----Darrell Powell
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