Choosing Obedience
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
Moses was a man on a mission. He obeyed God’s commands at great personal risk. How many people today would willingly give up wealth and power for a life of hardship and servanthood? Fame and position produce honor. Powerful political families often set themselves up as dynasties, trading on their fame, acquiring wealth and power that often lead to greed, corruption, and the abuse of power. That’s why God values and approves of those who choose His glory over the world’s gold.
God presented Moses with a choice, and Moses chose obedience. Every one of us has been invited and called by God. We have a choice to obey Him or rebel against Him, to receive Him or reject Him, to choose His glory or the world’s gold. Disobedience may offer short-term gratification, but it always leads to destruction. Solomon wrote: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).
You’ve heard about “the man who has everything,” and that describes Moses. People waited on Moses hand and foot. He could spend every morning on the golf course and every afternoon in the palace Jacuzzi. He could order the best foods, wear the best clothes, and enjoy the best recreational pastimes. Luxuries are not sinful per se, but those luxuries would have been sin for Moses because God had called him out of the palace and into the adventure of faith.
God’s Word commends Moses because he gave up the world’s gold for God’s glory. He gave up everything that stood in the way of perfect obedience. Is God calling you from the burning bush? What is the choice He has set before you? Have you made the decision to cut off all other options to pursue God’s will for your life? What is the gold that has you in its grip, keeping you from abandoning yourself to God’s will and His glory?
Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to see Your calling on my life. May I follow Your will, remembering that You are my all in all. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17).
*Excerpt adapted from Treasure That Lasts by Michael Youssef © 2020. Published by Baker Publishers, Inc. Used by permission.
Learn more in Dr. Michael Youssef’s sermon They Were Just Like Us, Part 9: LISTEN NOW
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