This Is HIS Year: A Biblical Guide to Grace and GoalsSample

Glorifying God by Keeping His Commands
Yesterday, we discussed making this year God’s year by knowing His Word. We learned that we can know how to please God by reading and cherishing the Bible.

Continuing with this theme, the Bible tells us that one way to please the Lord is by obeying His commands. As today’s verses teach, everyone who believes in Jesus has been born again (1 John 5:1). When we trust in Christ, God calls us His sons and daughters, loving us with an eternal, unchanging love. He makes us heirs of God’s kingdom and forgives us of every sin. It is a remarkable gift!

This grace is incredible, and it should change us. Because of God’s grace with us, we now desire to love God and others, obeying His commandments (1 John 5:2). And His commands are not a burden (1 John 1:3). Because God loves us and has given us faith and saved us, we want to obey Him.

Parents know that one of the ways their children can love them is by listening to and obeying them. But in the same way that a child’s obedience does not make the child a member of their family, we do not earn our salvation through our good deeds. Salvation is through faith in Christ alone, not by any good things we could do. Even if we sold everything we had and went to the other side of the world but did not have faith in Christ, our good deeds would be as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). Rather, because God has saved us, we love Him and want to obey Him.

What does obedience to God look like for you? Perhaps it means taking a long look at your life, evaluating hidden and engrained sins that disregard God’s Word. Have you held on to bitterness against a friend or been rash with your words? Go to the Lord in repentance today. Or maybe it means considering how you could grow in your obedience to the Lord this year—perhaps strengthening your commitment to a local, Bible-preaching church or prioritizing the discipleship of your children.

Spend time reflecting on how you could set goals that align with obedience to God’s Word this year.

Reflect and Respond:

1. What would it look like to obey God more this year?
2. Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30–31)? Is there any area of your life that you have held back from Him?