Hello, my name is Sochildixie.

I'm sharing a personal story in today's encouragement from our daily bread, loving obedience.

During our wedding ceremony, our minister said to me, do you promise to love, honor, and obey your husband until death do you part?

Glancing at my fiancé, I whispered, obey.

We'd built our relationship on love and respect, not blind obedience, as the vows seemed to suggest.

My husband's father captured on film that wide-eyed moment when I processed the word obey and said,

I do.

Over the years, God has shown me that my resistance to the word obey had nothing to do with the incredibly

complex relationship between a husband and wife. I'd understood obey to mean subjugated

or forced submission, which scripture doesn't support. Rather, the word obey in the Bible expresses the many ways we can love God.

As my husband and I celebrate 30 years of marriage through the power of the Holy Spirit,

we're still learning to love Jesus and each other.

When Jesus said, if you love me, obey my commandments, in John 14, he showed us that

obedience to the scriptures would be the result of an ongoing loving and intimate relationship

with him. Jesus' love is selfless,

unconditional, and never forceful or abusive.

As we follow and honor him in our relationships,

the Holy Spirit can help us see obedience to him

as a wise and loving act of trust and worship.

Today's our daily bread devotional scripture reading is from John chapter 14,

verses 15 to 21.

If you love me, keep my commands.

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