Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Recently a church I was attending had an amazing rousing song service.

It was a true blessing to me. The songs were all from the hymnal and were old well-known songs. I like both new and old songs. Yes, even songs that are not in our hymnal. What made this so special was the people singing. None of us singing that day will ever compete in a singing contest. If we did, we would not even come close to winning.

However, the spirit with which the singing took place was the real blessing.

As I was sitting in the front, I could just hear the songs being sung with reverence and, dare I say, with gusto. There was real worship taking place that was reflected in the joy of the moment. Worship of people that were letting God transform their lives.

This week another old hymn has been running through my mind.

One of those songs you can’t get out of your head. It is an old hymn that is one of the earliest I can remember singing. It is called Trust and Obey. There is a real formula there that is important for us to remember and reflect on in our daily walk with God.

You see, trust should always lead to obedience.

Trust of a God that loves us and has our very best interest in mind. When that happens, natural obedience takes place. It is not a legalistic obedience that happens from external force. It is an internal obedience.

Do you know what happens after trust and obedience? A transformed life. We all know the text in John 14:15

Of course, we also know that I Corinthians 13 says that the greatest of all is love. So, as we love God, we obey God and then we are transformed by God into a people that others will say they know us by our love. Love for God, love for each other, and love for everyone. This will transform us and how we treat every single person we meet and interact with.

Let us let the truth of God lead to loving obedience to God that will lead us to a fully transformed life.