3 Truths to Believe Your Obedience Isn't Pointless

Do you ever question why God has asked something of you? Maybe it’s your job, maybe it’s the daily tasks of watching toddlers, or maybe it’s that friendship where you keep giving but never really receive anything in return.

It’s easy to say quickly, “I know God placed me here. I know I’m obeying Him.” But how many of us actually believe our obedience makes a difference? Even if we truly believe those words we speak, do we truly believe our obedience means anything?

There are too many days to count when I feel this way. I may not question that God has asked this job and life situation of me. But I most definitely question if it even matters. And that feels rather discouraging.

I recently studied the little book of Haggai, one of the minor prophets in the Bible. God blew me away with truths surrounding what obedience actually means and why my mundane obedience brings Him glory. I remember staring at these two, short chapters that make up Haggai, wonder in my spirit causing excitement to overwhelm me.

And I knew I couldn’t keep these lessons to myself. If similar discouraging thoughts attack the truth in your heart, these words from Haggai can serve as a beautiful reminder about what God thinks of your obedience.

God Makes Your Obedience Glorious

Culture and our own desires push us toward extraordinary actions. Even when it comes to our faith and obedience. If we’re not accomplishing as much as that missionary, if we don’t serve as much as that other mom, if we don’t participate in multiple weekly church activities — then we fail.

Somehow we’ve trained our spirits into believing our acts of obedience must look glorious. So when we look at the work of our hands — even if we know this work came from God’s prompting — we see it as nothing compared to what others accomplish.

The returned exiles in Haggai felt the same way. They began rebuilding God’s temple only for the work of their hands to pale in comparison to the glorious first temple Solomon built. But when God spoke to them about their obedience, He didn’t criticize them. He didn’t laugh at how pathetic their work looked.

No, He told them He would make this temple more glorious than the first (Haggai 2:1-9).

God makes your obedience glorious. You do not. Your actions do not need the appearance of grandeur. If God has asked this of you, He will make it glorious. Your responsibility is simply to walk in obedience. No matter how mundane it looks this side of Heaven.

It’s About Your Heart

I often shy away from talking about obedience for fear God might ask me to add something else to my plate. If I desire to ensure my days fill with obedience to God, doesn’t that mean I’ll have to join another ministry team, start leading a Bible study or volunteer twice a week at the non-profit in town?

That’s what I used to think, anyway. But once again, Haggai speaks to this false view of obedience. For even when the people went through all the actions of obedience, God called them out on their misplaced priorities. He compared them to a decaying corpse (Haggai 2:13-14)!

Time and again, God reminds His people — and us — that obedience is not so much about the actual actions as it is about our heart attitudes. If we go through the motions of obeying God because we think it’s what we’re “supposed to do,” our actions repulse God.

So before we add more fear fuel to our obedience fire, let us take time and pray through where our priorities lie. Do we obey God because we love Him more than words express? Do acts of obedience pour out into our daily activities because we can’t go a full day without obeying our Lord?

Once we start thinking about obedience in this light, our fears will dissipate, and joy will take their place.

We Won’t Always Have “The Feeling”

Satan’s goal for those of us secure in the hands of Jesus looks like distracting and confusing us as much as possible, paralyzing our obedience. One way he does this, especially with us ladies, comes with “the feeling.”

You know the feeling. That excitement bubbling up in you when you start a new adventure with God. That outpouring of love and tears when you experience an amazing time of prayer and Bible study. That overwhelming peace when you know God brought that person into your life just for the sake of encouraging you.

Those feelings are gifts, I believe. But Satan loves snatching at our gifts and turning them into confusion. So when God asks something of us, when we know there’s something about our days we must start or stop doing to obey, Satan confuses our feelings.

And without “the feeling,” we allow ourselves the excuse that we just don’t know if God actually wants this from us. We take time for more thinking and praying, saying we can’t be sure because we just don’t know how we feel yet.

While feelings are gifts from God, they should not dictate our obedience. The exiles in the book of Haggai had to acknowledge their misplaced priorities and declare their newfound allegiance to obeying God. Scripture tells us it wasn’t until after this declaration when the Spirit moved among them (Haggai 1:12-15).

So the next time we know God has asked something of us, let’s not rely on our feelings for justification. Let’s rely on the Word of God and His character, walking in obedience no matter how we feel about it.

Haggai teaches us so many more lessons about obedience, but I think my favorite is remembering I don’t need to make my obedience look glorious. If God has asked something of me, I know it’s not in vain. I know it’s not without purpose. For our God does all things for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

We can look at our daily routine, filled with mundane actions, and know God works behind the scenes, making every act of obedience glorious.