In This Biography

How Important is Obedience?

Religion and obedience

Religious obedience is based on the love of God and on the desire to be directly connected to Him.

God’s promises and blessings to us depend largely on our obedience to Him. However, there are challenges to obeying God.

Christian obedience is the act of submitting (obeying) to the commands (laws) of God, the highest authority, creator, and Father of mankind.

Biblical obedience to God means to hear, trust, submit and surrender to God and His word.

If you have faith in God and believe Christianity is the truth, obedience is the practice of living by faith, obeying the teachings of the Bible.

Bible scriptures about obedience

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” – john 14:15

“But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” – Acts 5:29

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” – 1 Peter 1:14

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:6

“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;” – Isaiah 1:19

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” – Luke 6:46

3 forms of Christian obedience

Love the Lord your God: Obedience can be simply honoring and praising God for your life and the blessings within. While this may seem obvious and easy, there are many distractions in the modern world (technology in particular) that can side-track us from appreciating the glory of God in our daily life. We must focus to obey the greatest.
Love your neighbor as yourself: Continuing with the teaching from Matthew 22, our next example of obedience is to love your neighbor as yourself. In order to love our neighbors, friends, and even family, we must forgive them for their trespasses against us. As the Lord’s Prayer says, “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Matthew 6:14
Prayer: The Bible literally teaches to “pray without ceasing” in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. To live by faith means to live by prayer, commonly going to God in supplication and thanksgiving. If you feel that you are struggling with understanding or practicing obedience, pray for guidance and inspiration. Moreover, prayer itself is a form of obedience, as scripture says to humble ourselves and pray.

8 Reasons why Obedience to God is Important in Christianity.

Jesus calls to obey.
Obedience is an act of worship.
God rewards obedience.
Obedience to God proves our love.
Obedience to God demonstrates faith.
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Disobedience leads to sin and death.
Through obedience, we experience the blessings of holy living.

Obedience in Islam.

Islam teaches to obey Allah(God) and his messenger (prophet Muhammed).

Obedience in Islam is abiding by the orders of Allah and avoiding His prohibitions.

The Verse of Obedience is verse 59 of Surah An-Nisa in the Quran and is known as Uli al-Amr Verse. The verse orders the believers to obey Allah, to obey the prophet, and those vested with authority (Uli al-Amr).

A strong faith can keep you focused on the fact that Allah alone ultimately controls all destinies and has power over all things. Remembering that fact alone at the moment of affliction can help you in conquering the pain and provide you hope and the energy to keep moving forward.

Verses in the Holy Quran that talk about obedience.

24:53] And whoso obeys Allah and His Messenger, and fears Allah, and takes Him as a shield for protection, it is they who will be successful.

[24:54] And they swear by Allah their strongest oaths that, if thou command them, they will surely go forth. Say, ‘Swear not; what is required of you is obedience to what is right. Surely Allah is aware of what you do.’

[24:55] Say, ‘Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger.’ But if you turn away, he is responsible for what he is charged with and you are responsible for what you are charged with. And if you obey him, you will be rightly guided. And the Messenger is only responsible for the plain delivery of the Message.

In the Holy Qur’an obedience of the Prophet peace be upon him) is considered as the same as obedience to Allah. Muslims are told to take the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah as their guides.

If one obeys family members and relatives at an early age, obeying Allah’s orders comes smoothly.

In Islam, children’s obedience and of the parent is very important, Children are expected to show respect to parents, and in return, the parents must show caring, kindness, and mercy towards the children. Parents and children are bound together by love and mutual obligations. The Qur’an has made it compulsory for the child to obey parents and treat parents with goodness and kindness.

By obeying and submitting to Allah, one stands to gain in ways that they will not expect nor foresee and the most important thing is to realize that the greatest success is to be granted Allah’s blessings in all aspects and throughout our lives.

If we cannot offer absolute obedience to Allah, then we will certainly fail to display true and meaningful obedience to anyone in the temporal world.

In Judaism.

Obedience in Hebrew is shama Which means to hear, to listen, to give attention, to understand, to submit to, and to obey.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

In the Torah reading, we are reminded that one of the traits that Judaism emphasizes and encourages is obedience. Obedience requires a suspension of one’s own thought process and even behavior.

The idea of discipline and obedience has already proven itself over through the commandments previously ordained by the Torah.