Compliance Is Easier In Relationship

Compliance Is Easier In Relationship

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Psalm 51:12

In the medical field, the term compliance is used to describe a patient’s willingness to obey and adhere to the instructions given by a physician. Research and experience indicate that the simpler the instructions, the more likely a patient is to conform. For example, we know that one pill per day is about 90 percent more likely to be taken than, say, a pill four times per day.

Often, when patients realize that noncompliance is hurting their health, they will come back to their doctor and ask if there is something that is easier to take or simpler to remember. Having a good relationship with your doctor makes compliance easier.

The human will is the key to both obedience and disobedience. The author of today’s psalm realized that his will alone was not enough to make him obey, so he asked for God’s help. But he also recognized that obedience is more likely when we are in a relationship with the one requesting our compliance.

When I was young and my father asked me to do something, I was as likely to whine or back talk as any other child. But my attitude changed on days when my dad would take me along to check on the progress of his agricultural students’ projects. I loved doing those checks, and my dad and I got along great. I knew that he appreciated our time together too. If he asked me to do a chore after we got home from one of those trips, the obligation was easier to fulfill, and I rarely complained.

In the same way, when we are connected and in relationship with our heavenly Father, it is easier to obey him and to follow his decrees. Perhaps that’s why he has made compliance so simple and clear for us. All he asks us to do is love him and then love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. When we comply, there is great joy for both of us.

TODAY’S RX

God wants to restore the joy of your salvation and build your relationship with him. All he asks from you is your love—which includes obedience and trust. Healing comes with our compliance to the healer’s instructions.

Father, give me a spirit that longs to draw near to you and obey you. Take away any tendency I have to grumble and complain, and replace it with a desire to know you more completely.