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In a world filled with sermons, teachings, podcasts, and endless spiritual content, it has never been easier, to hear the Word of God. Yet the Scriptures repeatedly warn us that hearing alone is not enough!
Jesus made this distinction crystal clear. He didn’t just teach the Word, He lived it. His very sustenance, His deepest satisfaction, was obedience to the Father. Throughout the Gospels and the New Testament, the Holy Spirit confronts a dangerous misconception: that knowledge without action, or profession without obedience, can somehow please God.
This is the heart of Hear and Adhere, a powerful call to move beyond passive listening into active, wholehearted obedience. The Bible, leaves no room, for comfortable illusions. The one who hears, and does not obey, deceives himself.
The scriptures use several illustrations, to describe the one who claims to know Christ, but does not keep His commandments. May the following truths from Scripture, awaken in us a fresh hunger, not just to hear the voice of God, but to live it out with surrendered hearts. For in hearing and adhering, we discover, the very food that satisfied Jesus, the foundation that withstands every storm, and the intimate knowledge of God that true love produces.
The Bible repeatedly clarifies misconceptions about true spirituality. It is not merely about knowledge, words, or outward religious activity, but about hearing God’s Word, and actively obeying it.
1. Doing is food!
In the first of these illustrations Jesus, emphasised this truth powerfully, using the metaphor of food as His sustenance.
We read in John 4:34-38, Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not laboured; others have laboured, and you have come into their labor.”
Jesus found His deepest satisfaction not in physical bread, but in fulfilling the Father’s mission. Note the detail, – To do His will and finish the work He was entrusted with. Sowing, and reaping for the Kingdom of God, that was part of the task set before Him. Note again here, Jesus said, “I sent you to reap”! The task is again emphasised. Obedience brings eternal fruit and shared joy between sowers and reapers. True spirituality fuels active participation in God’s harvest today.
2. The forgetful man in the mirror.
James 1:22-25 reads, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself, and gone away, he has immediately forgotten, what kind of person, he was. But one, who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed, in what he does.”
Mere hearing, leads to self-deception. But intentional, ongoing obedience, to God’s Word, brings blessing, and true transformation.
3. The Wise Build on Solid Foundation.
Matthew 7:24-27 reads, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded, on the rock. But everyone, who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell, and its collapse, was great.”
Storms reveal the foundation. Obedience anchors us in Christ.
4. Obeying His commands, is evidence, of knowing God.
1 John 2:3-6 reads,“By this, we know, that we have come to know Him, if, we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know, that we are in Him: the one who says that he remains in Him, ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
Claiming to know God without obedience is self-deception. Walking as Jesus walked is the proof of a genuine relationship. Walk, just as He walked, should be echoing in our lives.
5. Loving God, means obeying His commands.
John 14:21 reads,“The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”
Obedience is the language of love toward God. It invites deeper intimacy and greater revelation of Christ. Yes, don’t miss this. When we love Him, we obey Him, and when we do that, we see more of Him, and grow in intimacy, with Him.
6. Obedience brings forth fruit.
In John 15:5 we read, “I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” What is remaining in Him, mean? The answer, lies in a few verses further down, in verse 10 which goes like this, “ If you,, keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept, My Father’s commandments, and remain in His love.
It is His will that we bear much fruit. This comes by obedience, and no other way. Without obedience you can do nothing of value in His kingdom. Nothing at all!
7. Not Everyone, Who Says “Lord, Lord”, Will Enter.
In Matthew 7:21-23 we read. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one, who does the will, of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many, will say to Me, on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy, in Your name, and in Your name, cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”
Note, practice lawlessness, or practice sin, or practice disobedience. It is a life-style of disobedience. Seen again in 1John 3:4,6,8,&9.
Impressive works, without an obedient relationship, to the Father, mean nothing, in the end. Don’t be deceived by performance or manifestations. They are not proof for a living, loving, growing, 2-way relationship with God. God needs to know, and recognise His own children, His sheep. His sheep, hear His voice, and these are the ones He knows and saves.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help us not only to hear Your Word, but to adhere to it with wholehearted obedience. Let Your will be our food, Your commands our delight, and our lives unshakeable testimonies of genuine faith. Reveal Yourself, to us as we keep Your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Friend, may this reflection, encourage you today to move from simply hearing, to active, joyful adherence, for the glory of God, and the blessing of your life.
Quote
Hearing and adhering – the two strands of the same twine.