"Partial Obedience” ... or Rebellion & Idolatry

"But Samuel replied: 'Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king'” (1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Open your Bible right now and read 1 Samuel 15.

†

Have you read it? Notice why Saul spared the animals (vv. 21, 24). Instead of repenting when confronted with his sin, Saul backtracked and tried to claim that he had obeyed the Lord while all around him was the evidence of his disobedience: bleating sheep and lowing cattle.

Saul called his “partial obedience” obedience. God had another name for it: disobedience. He called that disobedience rebellion, and rebellion He likened to witchcraft. God also compared Saul’s arrogance to idolatry.

Unless we have God’s view of our actions, we will stumble along with excuses like “But we love each other,” “The Government wastes money anyway,” “But I found it,” “Everyone does it…” To the Samuels of this world, our excuses sound like bleating sheep, and to God they look like idolatry and witchcraft.

Comments

Elisabeth said…

Thank you for this....
Making excuses for our sin is disobedience.
So, finding 5 dollars on the road...i found it.. So I'm not sinning...becaise it's lost, right...i bought ice cream and was hungry..was that witchcraft?...rebellion?

5:51 PM

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