I have a friend that began a new job today at a local hospital. Today was orientation, and the instructions were to meet in the Community Room for all new employees.

Instructions for the location of the orientation were to park in the employee parking lot, enter at the Heart Institute entrance, take an specific elevator to the second floor, walk down the hall to a different elevator, take that elevator to a lower floor, walk through the lobby past the gift shop, and the room would be at the end of the hall.

When I read the instructions, I laughed. The Community Room is accessible by parking at the old entrance to the hospital, going through the double doors, turning left, and walking down the hall past the gift shop.

At the end of the instructions, new employees were told that the reason for these particular directions was that parking in the employee parking lot and walking through the hospital allowed more room for visitors to park in the lot at the old entrance.

When my friend arrived at the proper destination, new employees were arriving via the old entrance, having not followed the instructions they were given. This was no great surprise.

This reminds me of how many people feel about the commands of God. “It’s ok if you want to do it that way, but I have a better way, a shorter way, an easier way.”

The Bible offers many examples of this way of thinking.

• Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, a direct “thou shalt not” from God, Genesis 3.
• Cain offered his own sacrifice, not according to God’s instructions, Genesis 3.
• Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire, not what God commanded, Leviticus 10:1.
• Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God commanded, Numbers 20:8-11.
• The Israelites worshipped idols all during their wilderness wanderings, and even afterwards. This was strictly forbidden in Exodus 20:2-3.
• The Pharisees and Scribes were condemned for their misuse of Jewish law, Matthew 23.
• The Corinthians violated God’s law regarding fornication, First Corinthians 5.
• The Corinthians also violated the commands for the taking of the Lord’s Supper, First Corinthians 11:18-34.
• The Galatians perverted the gospel, Galatians 1.
• The seven churches in Asia were condemned for a variety of sins, Revelation 1-3.

I could list many others, but these all had the same problem. They wanted to follow their own way of thinking. They wanted to take the easy way (in their minds) because they thought their way was better, quicker, more desirable, less trouble, easier, and “it’s the way I want to do it.”

Isaiah spoke of the concept of obedience to God’s commandments. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9).

 There are commands we may not want to obey, but God has given them for a reason. We can’t know everything about the mind of God, but we can know that His commands are to be obeyed.

The apostles experienced much persecution, but their answer was clear and easy to understand. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

 Paul spoke plainly to the Galatians about perverting the gospel. He said, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6-8).

 Paul thought this was so important that he repeated it; then he said, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

 I think that says it all. Do I want to please God or myself? I know that pleasing God is the only way to inherit eternal life, and if it is the longer way, I’ll take it.

Sandra Oliver