If you drive, you know all about speed limits. What are they?

Rules. Laws. Set by authorities over you. A speed limit is the fastest you’re legally permitted to drive in a specific area or section of road.

How often do we obey these words?

If you drive, you know about them and you believe that they exist. You see the signs posted.

 

Do You Obey?

I’m goin’ out on a limb here and say: not always. In fact, if you’re like most of the rest of us, it’s more like ‘rarely.’

So what’s the point? What’s the point in ‘believing’ that the speed limit is there and driving whatever speed you want?

Now, if law enforcement strictly enforces their local speed limits, people are far more likely to adhere to them … or at least stay close.

Technically, though, even if you drive 1 mpg (one mile per hour) over the posted speed limit, you’re speeding.

You’re disobedient to the law.

If you blast on through a speed trap, completely oblivious to the carefully setup officers with their radar guns, guess what? You’re getting a ticket or worse.

Maybe you’ll slow down for a while, but eventually your foot’ll be pressing down on that accelerator harder.

 

There’s No Heart of Obedience

Close enough may be good enough to keep you from getting pulled over. You might be able to drive 60 or even 65 in a 55 mph speed zone, or 35 when the law’s 25, but your heart still ignores the law.

You don’t agree, you like testing your limits, or you simply want to save time and get to your destination faster.

Every single one of those excuses is rooted in … (guess … that’s right …) selfishness.

Your heart’s not really desiring to be obedient.

You’ll take your chances, but you’re still disobedient, no matter how many (or few) tickets you get).

 

How’s Your Heart for Jesus?

Jesus is God. The Bible is His word. They contain His demands for how a righteous person is to live.

We’re fallen, though. It’s impossible for us to not sin while in the flesh, which is why Jesus paid the penalty for our sin.

And while He saves His chosen ones by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), He also calls us to obedience.

A lot of people today want to dismiss that part of the gospel message, gloss it over, and make it irrelevant. They want you to focus on the fact that ‘you’re under Grace,’ so it doesn’t really matter.

We can’t save ourselves no matter how ‘good’ we are, but what we say and what we do reflect our heart.

If you’re saved but don’t possess a heart of obedience to His commands, why not? We’re going to fall. We’ll certainly drift over God’s ‘speed limits’ time and time again, but the more we pay attention to our actions, the more we focus on His Word, the less likely we are to do so.

Keep in mind Jesus’ ‘Great Commission’ (Matthew 28:20): “Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded and know that I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Are you being taught the value, importance, and heart of obedience?