Incomplete Obedience

Years ago, I heard a very important truth. Incomplete obedience is disobedience. There is no other way to look at it. When God commands something in His Word, or when He commands us to do something directly, we are to do it immediately and completely. Anything less is sin. I am afraid this sin plagues many of us, as Christians, right now.

God commanded the people of Israel to drive out all of the Canaanites from the Promised Land. He knew what would happen if they didn't, and that was the Canaanites' punishment for rebelling against God. (Joshua 16:10) However, when the different tribes took over their sections of the country, they did not drive out all of the Canaanites. They left them to be slaves in the land, because of their failure. This led them to be tempted and to fall into idolatry in the future.

If we do not completely obey what God has told us, we will suffer because we will be sinning against God. He will punish us for our unfaithfulness. Our relationship with God will not be what it ought to be. We will have a lack of peace and joy. We will not receive the blessings of God. There is no excuse not to obey God, because He has given us all we need to obey Him, even before He gives us His command.

We may not see the full consequences of incomplete obedience immediately. However, when we fail to trust God in one area, it makes it easier not to obey in other areas. When we rationalize and justify incomplete obedience, it becomes a habit. We get worse and worse in our laziness and failure to trust the Lord. Eventually, we fall into idolatry and other sins, because of our disobedience. Let's all decide right now to confess any sins we have in our lives. The Holy Spirit will show us if we ask Him. Then, let's determine to practice complete obedience all the time.

#NHBaptistdotorg

Tomorrow, I intend to read Joshua 17-20.