Why is obedience to God important?

Answer  
  

Obedience to God proves our love for Him (1 John 5:2\-3\), demonstrates our faithfulness to Him (1 John 2:3\-6\), glorifies Him in the world (1 Peter 2:12\), and opens avenues of blessing for us (John 13:17\).  
  

Faith is necessary to please God (Hebrews 11:6\), and if our faith is genuine and true, we will live a lifestyle characterized by righteousness, modeling the example set for us by Jesus Christ. We obey His commands, not because we *have* to, but because we *want* to, because we love Him. We are enabled to obey because, once we believe in Christ and are saved, we are remade. We are not the same people we once were. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  
  

When we obey the Lord, we can live a life of joy, without shame, rooted deeply in the Lord and confident in our eternal hope. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17\). Our obedience is actually part of our [assurance](assurance-salvation.html) that we truly know God (1 John 2:3\).  
  

When God’s children obey their Heavenly Father, He is glorified. Jesus told us that the plan is for others to “see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16\). Of course, performing “good deeds” requires obedience to the One who calls us to good deeds. A Christian’s testimony of holiness is a strong witness that God is at work in the world.  
  

“Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him” (Psalm 128:1\). The Bible often tells us that God blesses and rewards obedience. James 1:22\-25 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. . . . Whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” See also Psalm 119:1\-2\.  
  

God is gracious. If we haven’t been living for Him, if we haven’t been following His commandments, if we’ve been living in and for the world, we can be transformed by the blood of Jesus Christ. We can ask God for forgiveness, and He will give it. And He will choose to forget the sin, just as if we had never committed it in the first place. God is glorified when He extends forgiveness, because it is written, “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. . . . Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:16\-17\).  
  

