Have you ever wondered about good works being taught as a result of our love towards God and not a requirement of salvation? That’s a classic example of sugar coating disobedience to God using crafty words directly from the pit of hell. In this post we will explore how many disguise disobedience and rejection of Christ’s words with crafty words like love.
Disobedience disguised as speaking the truth
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Gen 3:4-5
The primary goal of the devil is to make us disobey God. In the garden of Eden, many assume the father of lies spoke many lies. On the contrary, he spoke only the truth. We all know from reading the story that Adam and Eve didn’t die on the same say as God told (Gen 2:17), their eyes were open (Gen 3:7) and became like God knowing good and evil (Gen 3:22). Here, disobedience is disguised as speaking the truths. Are you disobeying God because of some truth you discovered?
Disobedience disguised as offering sacrifice to God
But Samuel said, “What then [is] this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
1Sam 15:14-15
In the above passage, Saul disobeyed God’s words but justifies them as sacrifice meant for God. Here, Saul disguises his disobedience as a sacrifice to God. God was disappointed with Saul’s disobedience and He rejected him from being king as in 1 Sam 15:26. Are you disobeying God disguised as offering sacrifice to God?
Disobedience disguised as the word of God
“For I have been told by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’ ” He said to him, “I too [am] a prophet as you [are,] and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (He was lying to him.) … Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard [it,] he said, “It [is] the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him.”
1Kgs 13:17-18,26
An old prophet lied to another prophet claiming it to be the word of the LORD prompting him to disobey God contrary to what He spoke to him. Here, disobedience to God is disguised as the word of God. In the end, the prophet who was disobedient to the word of the LORD was killed by a lion. Are you disobeying God because of some prophet or apostle’s claim of speaking the word of God?
Disobedience disguised as love
“So they come to you as people do, they sit before you [as] My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, [but] their hearts pursue their [own] gain. (Ezek 33:31)
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1John 3:18)
Many Christians speak about love is the only thing that is required for salvation. They claim that righteousness, holiness and good works all are a result and not because of our own effort. This is a classic example of how disobedience is disguised as love towards God.
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” .. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
John 14:21, 15:10
We love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ only when we have His commandments and keeps them. It is only those are obedient will be loved by our Heavenly Father. Are you disobeying God under of disguise of love in word but not in deeds?
Conclusion
Disobedience to God can be disguised as many things. It can be disguised as speaking the truth, sacrifice to God, the word of God and love. Are you disobeying God because of some truth you discovered? Are you disobeying God disguised as offering sacrifice to God? Are you disobeying God because of some prophet or apostle’s claim of speaking the word of God? Are you disobeying God under of disguise of love in word but not in deeds?
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Matt 7:21-23
Would you classify refusing to call YHWH by his name, despite his explicit instructions, an instance of “disobedience to God in disguise”?
I don’t think any believer would refuse to call YHWH by His name. Most translations use capital ‘LORD’ not as an act of disobedience but as an act of reverence, respect and holiness to His name that anyone should not even misuse His name. Look how the name of His Son is misused as a swear word in this world. The Jews used this technique which Christians inherited to avoid misusing and mocking His holy name.