Obedience and Disobedience (edited with ChatGPT)

 

The first thing that God desires from people is to listen to His word and to have faith in it. After all, “… faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Did not Jesus love Mary, who sat at His feet to listen to Him and called Him teacher, rather than Martha, who worked tirelessly to serve Him? Only a fool would neglect the word of God, even in the act of serving God. Mary is better than Martha. That is why it was Mary who wept at His burial site, not Martha. After listening to the word of God, the next step is obedience.

 

Jesus said, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Matthew 7:24-26).

 

Moreover, the Good Book also says, "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken" (Isaiah 1:19-20). Is it not true that “… to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22)?

 

God approves no one but Himself. Nobody is wise but God; nobody is holy but God; nobody is perfect but God; nobody matters but God. God is perfection, and everything else is imperfection, if not abomination. That is why God wants those who listen to His perfection and follow Him to strive for perfection as He is perfect. He has even given us a tangible example of perfection in the person of Jesus, who lived among us, taught us His perfection (truth), died to pay for our sin, rose from the dead to stand at the right hand of the Heavenly Father, and is knocking at every door to gather the lost sheep and spiritually nurture those who are born again. We have seen perfection, and we know what we should grow toward.

 

But we want our way. We do not want to be faithful to God’s standard; we want a God of our own making. We love the Orthodox, so we want a God who loves the Orthodox. We enjoy freedom and a free-spirited mindset, so we make God into a clown. We even showcase this clown to the world, as seen in the Olympics in Paris. We want a God who is pro-American and a slayer of anti-Americans, and we create a puppet God in our image. We have religious struggles with Rome, and we label those we disagree with as the Antichrist. We have economic and political conflicts with Russia and claim it will back the Antichrist in our theology. Our God is nothing more than a caricature of our understanding and misunderstanding.

 

Just as the fools of the ages made gods out of wood and stone and worshipped the worthless, we make a God according to our preferences and play religion with it. God is not molding us into His perfection; we are molding God into our ignorance and imperfection. This is not obedience, and this is not listening to the word of God. Is it any wonder that our lives are an uphill struggle, trying to climb a cliff, instead of flowing downward like a river?

 

With disobedience, not only will the winds and hurricanes destroy everything we have, time and time again, but our shield and patron will turn into our nightmare. If we were obedient, we could have eaten the fruit of the land, but with disobedience, the sword will consume us. Nothing we work on will stand firm, and we will plant millions only to harvest thousands because God is hunting us. Life is not easy when God is angry with you. Nothing you touch will ever flourish, and God will allow others to rob your wealth and destroy your future. The crippled, the lame, and the blind will outcompete you, though you have the eyesight of an eagle, the strength of a tiger, and the might of a lion. It is because God is angry with you. You have to experience it to truly understand.

 

It is not good to disobey God and run from His will. When you run from God's will, even the sea will come to swallow you. The God who intended to lead you into the Promised Land in 40 days will make you wander for 40 years due to disobedience. We often forget that faith is not about what we want or desire, but about what God desires and deserves. We must find our happiness in obeying God; this is what a child of God does. Look at Jesus—He did not do what He wanted but what the Heavenly Father approved, and that included dying on the cross.

 

With obedience, life becomes easier. This is not the prosperity gospel of the simpletons, but life is indeed better with obedience to God. Everything is organized for your benefit. Even if an enemy creates a gulf to separate you from your future, God will send a roaring river of pure water for your mouth and a boat to make your journey a luxurious one through the gulf of the devil. Even if an enemy ignites war against you, God will show His might and power to save you, building a strong faith in you. Even if the enemy tries to isolate you, God will show that He is the strongest shield there is. God builds you up and raises you, not only in good times but also in evil times. Thousands will fall on your right, and ten thousand will fall on your left, but you will see evil, and it will never touch you. After all, God is your shield, the muscle that fights your battles, and the hand that feeds you.

 

That is why, over time, you will see evil disappear like smoke without leaving a trace, while you soar higher and higher, like an eagle above the storm. The issue is not the food in God's hand, not the wings of God that make you fly, not the death of evil or the dissolution of sinful personalities—it is about knowing that God is God, and there is no other being like Him. God is building your faith and your knowledge of Him to guide you toward eternity.

 

The purpose of the manna and the meat was not to feed fools, but to teach them that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. God sent them into slavery and made them weak in the hands of an evil state. When they had no hope, God showed them what real hope looked like. This hope, above all hopes, is the God of Abraham. The purpose of all this was to build a foundation of faith in the minds of those who were once foolish. It was to know God, understand God, and obey God. Then, after knowing and obeying God, He wants you to imitate Him and become like Him. It is not about what is added or not added; it is about God and your knowledge of Him.

 

Once you know Him well and have the greatest faith in God, He can tell you to die for the people. He can tell you to leave your children in poverty, to oppose sinners even at the cost of your life. God can do that. It is not about health and wealth; it is about being a child of God and a soldier of God. The perfect life is to place your treasure completely in heaven, but such perfection is built through spiritual growth, not outright demanded—at least not from everyone, but only the best of the best.

 

You may have imperfection; we all are imperfect, but we should not teach our imperfection as perfection. Fools say that God will pay you back more, but the Bible also says, “Give to everyone who asks, and never demand repayment from your borrower.” Give to everyone who asks, and lend to everyone. Tell me how wealthy you will be. You will be given thousands to give away, millions to give away, and what you receive from God is just your daily bread—your service charge. God loves your service, but what He gives you and His children is just daily bread, dear. What is stated above by the law of Moses is if we follow the law to perfection. But we, the fools, like to pick and choose specific laws to affirm our biases while ignoring the rest.

 

The truly faithful will have all their treasure in heaven, and they may not even have a wife or children, for they see them as distractions from God. The truly faithful are like Paul and Jesus—not hiding in monasteries, bowing to idols, but traveling from city to city, village to village, and country to country to spread the word, collect lost sheep, and grow them into disciples of the Lord. Disciples are those who listen to the word of God and live by it. Disciples are not those who complete discipleship training but those who understand Jesus and begin to shape their lives after Him, becoming the ultimate soldiers of God through the spiritual growth process.

 

The ultimate soldier of God does not complicate his life with family, children, business, politics, or national issues. He is single-minded in the cause. I could tell you that Jesus affirms this, but I have a better example for you—Paul said so. Paul’s measure of perfection is the one to follow.

 

It is okay to be imperfect because not everyone will stand at the right and left sides of God. Just as Paul has a special place in heaven at God’s right hand, there is also a place for the fools like us in the lowest ranks of heaven. We, the wretched fools of this earth, can be saved by grace if we allow the Lord to grow us into His perfection.

 

There were faithful like Paul and Jesus, and there were faithful like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who buried the Lord. I hope that Nicodemus will one day learn not to hide his faith through the spiritual growth process, and that Joseph will stand boldly to debate the Pharisees that Jesus is Lord. Until then, we understand their failures, as we all have our failures. But it is foolishness to teach Joseph and Nicodemus as examples of perfect faith, rather than Jesus and Paul. We should teach Jesus and His servant Paul as measures of perfection, while we, the Joseph and Nicodemus of this age, can grow first toward Paul and then ultimately toward Jesus.

 

Paul gave everything to live for the Lord. We hide behind our houses, savings, politics, legal protections, comfort, and so on, to have a mild version of faith. It is okay not to be perfect, but we should teach Paul and primarily Jesus, rather than ourselves. I don’t always live what I say, as I am not better either. Yet I am sure that I cannot preach myself. The purpose is to fix the goal right, so that we, you and I, can grow toward it. I am not the image of God; Jesus is. I fall here and there, and no one is shaking in shame. No one is worried about your opinions and ideas. I am not pretending to be an uptight righteous person. I am me, coming from the dirt, striving to meet God’s standard. What I am sure of is that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today. It is a growth process—the affirmation is growth, not perfection. That is why we say, grow with us, before us, and after us; but just grow toward God.

 

When they were to kill Jesus, they beat Him hard and said, “Ecce Homo,” meaning "Here is the man." Now, we praise the Lord and declare, “Ecce Homo,” meaning, "Here is the perfect human being that we should imitate to become like God." So, imitate God by imitating Jesus through the spiritual growth process. Otherwise, you will experience what I once experienced: nothing works right with disobedience. Our lives, which once ran downhill, will turn into an uphill struggle as everything collapses around us. God will close every door and every opportunity to make sure you return to Him, and you don’t want to go through that. Ask the Jewish people how life is without God and without Jesus.