The Rudder of Obedience
There’s a
pattern throughout Scripture that makes me pause whenever God’s people drifted
into evil, and consequences followed. Not because God is cruel, but because He is
holy. Look at Israel—fresh out of forty years of miraculous provision, and the
moment they turned aside, God delivered them into the hands of the Midianites. They
weren’t free to live however they pleased and still expect His blessing.
And yet…
how often do we do exactly that? How often do we cry out for favour while
refusing to confront our own behaviour?
For New
Testament believers, this becomes even more layered because of the finished
work of the cross. “It is finished.” Not poetic language—actual reality.
Salvation accomplished. The blood of the Lamb covers His people. The
resurrection sealed it, witnessed and confirmed beyond legal dispute—though our
faith never depended on the courtroom. If this work has been finished in
Christ, and it has, then the real question stands before us: How should we
live?
This is
where deception finds cracks in our armour. Our selfish wants. Our excuses. The
small compromises that grow into strongholds. I’ve often spoken about the
“mirror” in my own life—looking into it honestly and asking God to show me who
I truly am. Skip this step, and we’re no different from the ostrich burying its
head in the sand when pressure closes in.
We say we
love the Lord—and I believe many do—but without obedience, that confession gets
thin and hollow. Jesus made it painfully plain:
“If anyone
loves Me, he will keep My word… Whoever does not love Me does not keep My
word.”
(John 14:23–24)
And again:
“If you
love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
(John 14:15)
These
verses trip many of us up—including me at times. But thank God for His kindness
that leads us to repentance. Thank God that when His children come in humility,
mercy flows like a river.
It’s worth
noting that John, known as the disciple of love, is the very one who connects
love and obedience. The man who leaned on Jesus’ chest, the one who wrote more
about love than anyone else, reminds us that love without obedience is
incomplete. Real love responds to Christ with a yielded heart. Obedience
isn’t about perfection—it’s about direction. God disciplines His children not
to condemn but to guide, keeping our hearts soft, teachable, and hungry for
Him. When love and obedience walk together, faith is alive, active, and
fruitful.
Still,
there must come a point where we admit that God’s commandments aren’t
optional extras—they are the rudder of our lives. Ignore the rudder, and we
drift. Embrace it, and we walk in truth. If altars of Baal have crept into our
lives—altars of self, compromise, comfort—we tear them down just as Gideon did.
No excuses.
And here
Solomon steps in with timeless clarity. The wisest man who ever lived summed up
the posture every believer must have:
“The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
(Proverbs 9:10)
Not
cleverness. Not discipline. Not religious activity. Wisdom begins with
honouring God—revering Him, esteeming Him, bowing before Him. Lose the fear
of the Lord, and you lose the foundation of a godly life.
But we must
also consider another truth God has given us:
“Perfect
love casts out fear.”
(1 John 4:18)
This is not
a contradiction; it is a revelation of balance. The fear Scripture commands is
not the fear Scripture casts out. Reverent fear draws us near. Tormenting
fear drives us away. One produces obedience, the other produces panic.
Perfect
love removes the terror of judgment because the judgment we deserve has already
fallen on Christ. The wrath that should have crushed us was absorbed at
Calvary. So, the believer stands before God without dread—loved, accepted,
redeemed.
We now live
in two powerful realities:
Reverence
that shapes obedience.
Confidence anchored in His love.
Lose
reverence, and compromise overtakes us.
Lose confidence, and condemnation controls us.
But when
these truths walk hand in hand, our faith stands strong. We obey because we
love Him. We draw near because He first loved us. Perfect love does not
remove reverence—it removes terror. And that is freedom purchased by Christ
Himself.
A storm is
coming. Scripture is clear about that. And like any soldier worth his salt, we
need sharpened skills and settled convictions before the battle breaks. For me,
it’s time—past time—to put God first without apology or delay. “Let God be
true and every man a liar.” My desire is simple: to please my heavenly
Father with my conduct and obedience. Pray for me in this pursuit; I need it.
To
understand God’s character, we must read the Scriptures. The law—yes, the Torah
itself—reveals dimensions of His holiness, justice, patience, and faithfulness
that modern believers often overlook. It is there, in those early pages, that we
learn the fear of the Lord and the seriousness of His call.
Signing
off,
Tyrone
