On my Facebook page, I post a daily “JOYbook” quote. It can be meaningful, or funny, or wise. Recently I posted a quote from my all-time favorite book, “The Pursuit of God” by A. W. Tozer.
“You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.”
Every year words are added to the dictionary that have been born in our everyday vocabulary. Apparently, “doggo,” slang for dog, was one of the 690 words added September 2023.
Every year we also see some words disappearing from our everyday vocabulary. “Obey” seems to be one of them. Seldom do we hear people use the word obey. And yet Jesus used that word a lot.
Matthew 7:26: “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.”
Luke 8:21: “Jesus replied, ‘My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.’”
John 14:15: “If you love me, obey my commandments.”
The Scriptures often linked love and obedience. Tozer reminds us that our minds need to be set to “love and obey” if we want to see God.
“Obey” and all it means might be fading from the U.S. vocabulary, but it will never fade from God’s.