Hearing His Voice #257

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

Joshua 1:7

God told Joshua to adhere strictly to the instructions He had given through Moses. He should turn neither to the right nor the left. In being strong and courageous, Joshua was never to cut corners in his obedience. This would be the key to his success.

Most Christians don’t necessarily have the same mind-set as Joshua, and it’s true that the gospel of grace gives us a different approach to God’s instructions. When we accept Christ by faith, we accept His death in place of our own, His resurrected life for our own, and His righteousness for our own. That means His obedience is credited to us, and we no longer strive for righteousness by keeping laws that tell us what to do or not do. Yet the New Testament is clear that God loathes lawlessness. Our response to God’s words is important. We don’t earn righteousness with our works, but our heart-connection with God should produce certain changes in our lives.

So does obedience to God’s instructions still matter? That depends on our motives. If our obedience is a response of love toward God, then it brings tremendous blessing. If it’s a response of obligation or an attempt to earn His favor, then it doesn’t really accomplish anything. In fact, it gets in the way of His relational pattern of dealing with us by His grace through our faith. When we hear Him, we are to respond by following. But how we follow will lead us either deeper into the relationship or deeper into self-effort and fruitless legalism. If we really want to reap the benefit of hearing God’s voice, we will cling relentlessly to His words for no other reason than that we love Him.

Lord, my response matters to You. You give me the paths to Your blessings, and I want to follow them tenaciously. You have declared me righteous; now help me live out that truth in practice.