Obedience vs.

God does not want obedience as much as He wants...humility, love and compassion. 

📖 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

    and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Hosea 6:6

It is something that came to mind as I was listening to my historical fiction book. One character's self righteous piety as she scorned another for their sin. As she gave the woman shelter and sustenance; "as any Christian should", she was treating her with harsh words, cold animosity.   To me, in my mind, the attitude erases the "Christian deeds".

Our hearts have to be in line with our actions.

📖let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, Hebrews 10:22-24

I did not say God does NOT want obedience....I said NOT as much as He desires the other.

So many of us get caught up in the laws and rules we forget compassion and mercy.

📖 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.  If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.  For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”   Matthew 12:3-12

The minute we start keeping score....

"I don't do what she does!" "I do all this right!"  "They don't do what is correct"

...we have lost true humility...we are no longer seeing our brothers or sisters with a humble heart....and I believe God desires that above "following the rules"

📖 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4

See if we are truly humble at heart...and humility governs our thoughts and actions then ...then....we would be obedient in His eyes...the kind that He intended all along.

📖You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

   My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.  Psalm 51:16-17

We will be compassionate and merciful and gracious and generous!

🙏Lord I pray that our obedience is directed only by our hearts humbled before our Lord. ❤️