“You can not get up from the table until you finish your green beans,” the mother said to her son. “I don’t want them. They are yucky!” the son insolently replied. “They are good for you, and you need to eat them. You have to clean your plate.” Unfortunately for the mother, the battle of wills had just begun. This scenario of mother and child has happened countless times. For many children there are always some parts of their dinner they do not want to finish. They want to pick and choose what they eat. Often times its vegetables, and they ignore the part of dinner that is healthiest for them.

We can do the same thing with the word of God if we are not careful. It easy to be like that child and pick and choose what God has commanded us. As one example, anger might be easier for someone to give up because they can see the positive results. People like them better, they find themselves with more energy and time, and are overall happier. But when it comes to giving up drinking, they flat out refuse. They enjoy their drinking time with their buddies, and so what if they get a little intoxicated? It makes an evening a lot more fun. Why would God want them to give that up?

We could come up with dozens and dozens of illustrations like the prior one. Some things are easy and even enjoyable to turn over to God. Other times we get stuck on the green beans, not willing to clean our plate completely. We only want to obey as far as it is convenient or enjoyable to us. However this will just not do. We have to obey the whole law of God. In the end we will discover that what we were leaving out was probably the best thing for us. After all, God knows best.