Obedience Should Be Practiced

Luke 5:4-6, “When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” ⁶ And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. (NKJV)

I realize that the Bible is full of sound principles that should be put into practice in our lives. I will not take the time to share with you any type of list that would attempt to contain the wonderful life changing principles that we need to apply to our lives. But I do want to take a moment and emphasize one of the principles that God reminded me about as I was praying this morning. There is a great need for "obedience" to become a common desire and practice among the believers of this day and time. I believe that disobedience is raising its ugly head in this modern world and we need to make sure that are counteracting that "spirit" with heartfelt and sincere obedience to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!!

Simon found himself in a quandary that night as he listened to Jesus. He had not been lazy. He had worked all night but his efforts had left him with an empty net. An empty net is not a good sign for a professional fisherman. Believers find themselves feeling that same way from time to time. We are not lazy. We are doing our best to serve in the work of the Kingdom. But our nets (lives) are not filled as we sincerely desire. We feel somewhat empty and we are looking for the solution to our dilemma. But our solution is the same as Simon's "...nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."

There is no replacement for sincere obedience!! We can fill our nets with the latest worship music. We can fill our nets with the latest Bible Study tools. We can fill our nets with the latest as well as simplest Bible translations. We can fill our nets with participating in the activities of the church body. We can fill our nets with all types of "spiritual activities" and still feel empty.

These emotions can become the turning point in our lives if we choose to surrender to the leadership of Christ. Our emptiness can lead us back to the stream of Living Water that made the initial difference in our lives. It was our OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD that brought us joy, peace, forgiveness, comfort, hope, eternal life, etc. when we began our journey with Christ. We may need to look for those principles that we practiced at one time (prayer, meditation, faithful attendance to church, corporate worship, tithing, giving, sharing, , etc.). These practices will once again align us with Christ who will then continue  the process of the development of our relationship with Him.

Emptiness versus "...nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." Which will you and I choose today?