What If God Told You To Do Something?

What if God told you to do something? I'm talking about the God who created everything that was created. The God who has the final say in everything. If that God told you to do something, what would your response be?

Would you tell the almighty God, no I won't do what you've told me to do because I don't feel like doing it. Maybe another time, God, but not right now.

Would you tell God that you have better things to do than obey Him. Or that you have more important things to do than pay attention to what He wants you to do?

Try that sort of response with you boss when you're at work. Tell your boss that you can't be bothered doing what he or she wants you to do. See what sort of consequences you face if you try that with your employer.

Well, God has told us to do some things. For centuries He did the telling through people like Moses and the prophets. Then He came in the flesh, being born as a human being, Jesus Christ. As Jesus one of the incredible things He did was to suffer and die on the cross on our behalf, the sinless one dying for our sins. Another awesome thing that He did is speak to us and tell us directly what we need to be told.

Jesus told His disciples what to do. What He told them wasn't optional. What He told them weren't suggestions for them to consider whether or not to obey. He was God in the flesh. He knew exactly what was best for everything and everyone in the creation He had made.

One of the things Jesus said to His disciples was this in John 15:12-14  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you." ESV

Commands from God are not simply things we find in the Old Testament. God is still God and He is still the Lord. He's still the boss. We're still to obey Him with no excuses for not obeying.

To make it clear that His commands were not just for the disciples Jesus chose to follow Him while He was here in the flesh, He told them before He ascended back to heaven, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20) ESV

So we are to be taught to observe all that Jesus commanded His disciples. We're to look to what is written in the Bible and learn what God commands us to do and how to do it.

For example, when it comes to His command to love one another, we can learn more of what that means in John's first letter:  1 John 3:16-18  By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? ESV



There are times when my wife and I have been in need, and we're thankful that those in our church and others came to our need. She and are both disabled, but we know we're not exempt from obeying God's commands. Each week at church we do our share in contributing financially to the needs our church helps meet.

I'm pleased that those in our church helped form a group that provides groceries and other basic necessities to families facing hard times in our area. I'm also pleased that our church supports missionaries who help people in poor communities and nations with both their physical and spiritual needs.


Before I close this blog post I should add that I'm not suggesting that we can earn salvation by doing good works in obedience to what God commands us to do. The sacrifice of Jesus as the only sinless offering is the only basis for our salvation. But in God saving us, He has a purpose for the rest of our lives and all eternity. God has things for us to do.  Eph 2:8-10  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ESV

God has told us to do things. The things He commands us to do are written in the Bible. Let's not make excuses. Lets discover what is in the Bible and do what God wants us to do.