Partial Obedience Isn't Enough

By: Jenifer Metzger

Think of this. You ask your husband to take the garbage out and he takes the bag out of the can, ties it up, and takes it outside. That is where he stops. He doesn't put a new bag into the can. A job only partially done.

Or maybe you give your daughter instructions to wash, dry, and put away the dishes. She washes and dries the dishes, but leaves them sitting on the counter. She followed the first bit of instruction, but she only partially obeyed.

Or maybe you tell your son complete all of his homework. He does his math and history, but does not complete his science homework. He did part of what he was told, but he only partially obeyed.

I am sure you can relate to these situations. I know I can. You give instruction or ask for help with something and only part of what you asked for is completed. We know that partially doing something isn't completing the job. We also know that partial obedience from our children isn't really obedience at all.

If you fully obey the Lord your God and

carefully keep all His commands that I am

giving you today, the Lord your God will

set you high above all the nations of the world.

Deuteronomy 28:1 NLT

This verse in Deuteronomy tells us that we are to fully obey the Lord and carefully keep all His commands. Look at those two words. Fully. Carefully. The Bible doesn't just say, "If you obey..." It says, "If you fully obey..." Partial obedience isn't enough.

If God calls you to something, He is calling you to full and careful obedience. If He calls you to tithe (spoiler alert: He is), He is requiring a full 10%, not 7%. If He calls you give your last fifty dollars to a single mom for food, He is requiring you to give the full fifty dollars, not twenty. If He tells you to witness to your neighbor, He is requiring you to go and tell them about Jesus, not only wave and smile.

You will experience all these blessings

if you obey the Lord your God:

Your towns and your fields will be

blessed. Your children and your crops

will be blessed. The offspring of your

herds and flocks will be blessed. Your

fruit baskets and breadboards will be

blessed. Wherever you go and whatever

you do, you will be blessed.

Deuteronomy 28:2-6 NLT

This passage continues to tell us all the ways we will be blessed when we fully obey. To be clear, we do not obey for blessings. We obey because He is God and we are supposed to obey Him. We obey fully and carefully out of love and respect. Think of your children, you don't want them to obey you only for a reward, you want them to obey you because you are the parent and they love and respect you. The reward is an occasional byproduct of obedience. Likewise, blessing is an occasional byproduct of obedience.

Deuteronomy 28 goes on to tell us that on the flip side, disobedience brings curse or punishment.

But if you refuse to listen to the Lord
your God and do not obey all the commands
and decrees I am giving you today, all these
curses will come and overwhelm you: Your
towns and your fields will be cursed. Your
fruit baskets and breadboards will be
cursed. Your children and your crops will
be cursed. The offspring of your herds and
flocks will be cursed. Wherever you go
and whatever you do, you will be cursed.

Deuteronomy 28:15-19 NLT

We often think of disobedience as saying no to something God tells us to do. Doing as Jonah did and going the opposite direction. Or intentionally disobeying what we know to be right as David did with Bathsheba. But the truth is any time we partially obey, we are disobeying. And disobedience brings curse or punishment. If we are going to call ourselves Christians, we need to strive to fully and carefully obey all the time.

Discussion:
1. Think of a time your child or someone under you at work partially obeyed you. What did you think? Did you see it as disobedience? How did you respond?
2. Think of a time you partially obeyed God? What was the outcome?