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This is the Biblical record of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God gave them the freedom to eat from any of the trees in the Garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, following the serpent’s instructions they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. What transpired was human disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve rebelled against the Word of God and this disobedience caused their separation from God.
The Spirit of Christ is not about rebellion or the tendency to rebel, but rather, it is the spirit of perfect submission, of perfect obedience to the will of the Father. What God did was to send his own Son in the likeness of a sinful man to be the “sin offering” acceptable to God. Jesus was obedient unto death, even the death on the cross. This was a servant-leadership that cost him his life. “He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:4-5)
Obedience is not slavery to God or a loss of what is good for “me”. Rather, it is the self-surrender of our will so that we become less in our spirit and more in His Spirit. When we refuse to obey God and his Word, we sin and keep on sinning and grow further and further away from Him.
God cares about people’s trust and obedience than just with their offerings and sacrifices. Just as Jesus was submissive to the will of the Father, so God delights in our obedience to Him. When we have the Spirit of Christ, our understanding of our relationship with God is deeper and richer. Rom. 8:9 says very clearly: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” When we belong to Christ, we obey Him. It was the obedience of Christ that purchased our salvation, so let us in our lives be obedient to Him.
As a disciple of Christ have you exhibited a life of obedience in your daily life? Ask yourself how you can develop the willingness to be more disciplined as one who is faithfully obedient to Christ as Lord. We belong to Christ, we love Him and we obey Him – always!
