Obedience - The true form of worship as a lifestyle

Obedience. A word nobody likes to hear. A word so simple yet difficult when put to test. We all know the story of Saul’s disobedience. Prophet Samuel utters these famous words in 1 Samuel 15:22,

“To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

Saul had heard the word of the Lord, but thought he had a better idea. He was supposed to destroy the all Amalekites, taking no plunder, but instead he kept and spared the best of the sheep and cattle so that he can offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord. Some of us might think that what Saul did was nothing but a noble gesture. He wanted to offer a sacrifice upon the Lord. So why did Samuel make a big deal out of this?

Sacrifice is actually an attempt to gain something in return. In this sense, we are indirectly showing God what you did for Him, and now He is indebted to you. It is another way of gaining independence from God. Obedience, however, is a response of a relationship with Him. We trust God, we rely on Him, we interact with Him, but at the same time knowing that He takes the lead. In this case, Saul wanted to show God that he had a better idea. He wanted to show God what he did for Him. But God did not ask Saul for a sheep or cattle. God wasn’t bothered by Saul’s works. God was ultimately interested in the position of his heart. A heart that would submit 100% to his will and authority, trusting and letting God be God and Saul be Saul. Obedience is better than sacrifice because we allow God to be God, and we move to a place where we are dependent to His will.

Worship is an expression of our love to God. One way we can express our love is through our obedience. This proves that we love Him, and that we trust Him. Everything that God asks us to do is a way we can express our love to Him. Hence, what we do for God is an act of worship. Worship is not the songs we sing, or the tune we hum, neither it is the music we listen to. It is a lifestyle in which we live, which pleases the Lord. God desire that we express our love to Him through obeying His word, this shows Him that we love Him and trust Him, and that will lead to our worship to Him.

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity