To Obey God’s Commands

Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work.

–Colossians 1:10

In Colossians 1, we discover three things we ought to pray for our loved ones and ourselves. First, Paul prayed that the Colossian Christians would know the will of God. But knowing God’s will is not enough, so Paul had a second prayer request: that they would obey God’s commands. Paul wrote, “So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work” (v. 10).

Sometimes we pray, “Lord, show me Your will,” while secretly thinking, Then I’ll decide whether I want to obey it. Doing God’s will is not optional for a child of God. The only reason to know God’s will is so you can obey it.

Notice Paul prayed that the Colossians would “please Him in all respects.” The desire of every true Christian is to please God. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:9–10, “We also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Paul knew that blessings in this life and the next life come from obeying God’s will.

Do you want to be blessed by God? Then obey God’s commands. When the Israelites were getting ready to enter the promised land, God said, “I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known” (Deuteronomy 11:26–28).

God was saying to the Israelites, “You have a choice to make. You can obey My commands and experience My blessings, or you can disobey My commands and experience My curses. The choice is up to you.” God says the same thing to you and me today. And He is no respecter of persons–He doesn’t have a private deal with you that exempts you from following His commands. God doesn’t say to me, “Robert, I’m going to overlook your disobedience because you’re doing so well in other areas.” No. If you want God’s blessings, then you have to obey His commands. Paul prayed that the Colossians would know God’s will so they could obey Him.

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Today’s devotion is adapted from “The Perfect Prayer” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.