Obedience matters to God. One of the most heartbreaking accounts in the Gospels is Jesus’ encounter with the rich, young ruler. By his own admission, he has obeyed the commandments. Looking at the story, this person seems to love God because he wants to make sure he is not lacking anything in his quest to obtain eternal life. Jesus’ response blindsides him.
If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven and come, follow Me. -Matthew 19:21
In a closer examination, this man may have kept most of the commands of God. However, he misses the first and most important one. Jesus tells a lawyer who questions Him about most important command to look to the Law. The lawyer responds with quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. -Luke 10:27
In fact, the first commandment given in the Ten Commandments also shows the importance of God being at the forefront of a person’s life.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. -Exodus 20:2-6
God deserves to be the first priority. Moses told the Israelites, God MUST be first. No other gods or idols were acceptable in His eyes. The young man Jesus was talking to may have never bowed to a stone idol but his fortune became the very thing he worshipped. Unfortunately when presented with the solution to this problem, the young man left grieving presumably never to return.
Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.
-Isaiah 29:13-14
Wealth, however, is not the only thing that overtakes the first priority in a Christian’s life. Anything that is given more importance than God causes people to only give lip service to God.
Obedience matters to God. True obedience to God starts with placing Him in His rightful place in our lives. What stands in our way of truly following Jesus? The rich young ruler refused to remove his roadblock. Will we?