A brief meditation intended to snap you back into the restoring power of God’s love.
2026-09-27
Repentance and Obedience go Together.
After the chief priests challenged his authority, Jesus told them a parable about obedience and repentance:
“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.(Matthew 21:28-32)
Under the Old Covenant, God commanded obedience to His law, especially to those in authority, whom the rest of the people looked to for direction and as models of holy living. Yet they questioned Christ’s authority even as they disobeyed God and even their own rules. God knew their sin and hypocrisy and sent John the Baptist to call them and everyone to repent. Then Jesus, the Son of God, came himself with the same calling. But instead of confessing their sins and humbly turning their hearts to God, the religious leaders questioned Jesus’ authority to carry out his ministry.
Therefore, Jesus told them the parable of the two sons, comparing the religious leaders to the son who promised to obey but didn’t. He then likened all who repented and followed John and Him, including repentant prostitutes and the most hated tax collectors, to the obedient son who changed his mind and obeyed his father.
Repentance and obedience are gifts of the Holy Spirit. Every human being needs the ability to reconsider their selfish ways and turn to obedience to God. You have probably heard me speak about where true obedience comes from. In God’s language, obedience and compliance are not the same.
True obedience doesn’t need a checklist to ensure you did what you were expected to do. Obedience, in God’s household, comes from a heart that loves God’s will and can go beyond the basic demands of His command. Compliance does only what is required, usually the minimum, because the heart does not love doing God’s will but only seeks to avoid any foreseeable dire consequence for not complying.
Sometimes we practise what I call “German shepherd obedience.” German Shepherds are very obedient dogs, but like most dogs, they are trained through a series of rewards and punishments based on their response to a command. After consistent training, they learn to do what their masters have trained them to do. However, human beings are not dogs, and God didn’t create us to be trained like them but to be moved from within by His love. With that clarity in mind, the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. […]
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:5-8; 12-13)
May we always be ready to embrace Jesus’ mind of loving, active obedience to the Father’s will.
In the faithful love of Christ,
Alvaro Palacio
Speaking of Life
