For Love of God

It's a curious thing how we can justify almost anything!  The problem is our own rationale can seem pretty senseless to someone else. The account of King Saul's disobedience is a good example of ... senseless rationale. God's command to Israel's king was to plain: completely destroy the Amalekites [including all the animals], the long-time and brutal enemy of God's people. Saul, however, spared the Amalekite king along with the choice animals.  Listen to Saul's reasoning for his partial obedience: "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal." (1 Samuel 15:20-21 NASB). No father or mother is satisfied with a child's kinda-sorta obedience ... and neither is God. The psalmist describes the angels as those who perform and obey the word of the LORD and do His will (Psalm 103:20-21 NASB). Jesus was clear about the evidence of those who truly love Him: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." (John 14:23 NASB). Saul's love of himself was reason-enough to put his will above God's. Full and unquestionable obedience is the God-honoring response. We obey ... for love of God!