How to Live a Life That Reflects Your Commitment to God

The Christian faith deeply connects our spiritual beliefs and our ethical actions. There is no separation between serving God and living with integrity toward others. Jesus’ two greatest commandments—to love God and love your neighbor—show this. As Christians, we don’t try to balance faith and good deeds; instead, we see them as naturally intertwined parts of a unified life.

Living a life reflecting a commitment to God involves humility, self-sacrifice, trust, courage, generosity, and obedience to God’s call, as seen in the lives of biblical women.

Apostle James declares: As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26). Apostle Peter asks us to make our calling sure by adding to our faith goodness, to goodness knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love (II Peter 1:3-11).

Apostle Paul tells Titus to teach people the conduct commiserate with the gospel so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive (Titus 2:10). Both he and Apostle Peter instruct women not to adorn themselves with elaborate hairstyles, gold or costly array, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God (I Timothy 2:10), which is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves (I Peter 4:5).

Let us now see how some of these women acted and reacted because they trusted in God, earning His favor and approbation for their practical obedience.

Sarah and Abigail

The one common factor that these two women hold is their wise conduct in the face of the delinquency of their respective husbands. One put his wife in a dangerous and compromising situation that could’ve robbed her of her womanly dignity and grace but for the timely intervention of God. The other behaved in such a churlish and curt manner with a man anointed and destined to be king that his wife was forced to step up and release from his wrath by her timely diplomacy and tact.

Their submission even to such husbands, unworthy of their respect due to misconduct, stands a testimony to their greatness and humility. They show us how we ought to treat our husbands even when they fail us or do not rise to be men of worth or of God!

Rahab and Jehosheba

Both these women were instrumental in helping to save the people of God at a time when their lives were threatened with death. One hid the spies who came to find a way forward in the first conquest of the promised land, and the other hid the royal offspring from the cruel massacre by his grandmother, saving the land of Judah from lacking the rightful king and preserving the godly lineage of King David.

They teach us that our faith in God and trust in His sovereignty should make us protectors and preservers of those who follow Him in their hours of need. Deborah, Jael, and Esther fall into the same category—militant women who pursued God and the safety of His people. As His daughters, meant to be pillars in His temple for beauty and strength, we must rise, as the situation demands, to be regents exercising His authority and power!

Ruth the Moabitess

A unique woman, she stands out as an example of how to treat our in-laws and extended family. She stepped out of her comfort and convenience zone, leaving her home and nation for a foreign land, willingly living in an alien atmosphere to serve an older person. She took upon herself the task of earning and supporting her mother-in-law and received the abundant and glorious reward of becoming an ancestor of Jesus our Savior.

Let us imitate her in exhibiting selfless love and concern for those who may not be part of our household or even belong to our family. Let us serve those of our extended family and the family of God!

Jochebed and Hannah

These two women astonish us with their willingness to let their children go in the plans of God, though their environment was conducive to their existence or survival. One’s faith made her bold enough to place her beautiful baby in a simple gimmick and let go in a crocodile-infested river. The other kept her word to God and entrusted her tender treasure into the custody of a man who didn’t even raise his sons well! Both saw their children grow into stalwarts of faith, mouthpieces of God, and men who challenged nations!

They show us the way to release our children in the call of God without making any claims on them for our gain. Mothers can hinder and prevent their children from following God’s call for His work or carrying the gospel afar. Their selfish ambitions and limiting demands can cripple their children. May we set our children free to obey God and go where He bids, trusting Him to provide for us!

Daughters of Zelophehad

My favorite women in the Bible are these five young single women in Numbers 26. They boldly stood up to challenge what could have become a possible unfairness and injustice, even in God’s mandate. They demanded a godly addendum to the new law. God changed and modified His laws to accommodate the legitimate petition of these daughters of Zelophehad!

They motivate me to petition for and fight for women when they’re marginalized or sidelined. I love my daughter’s slogan: Be a voice to the voiceless. We need to be women of sound judgment and knowledge who can challenge stereotypes and negative branding of the defenseless. We need to advocate for the cause of the oppressed and raise our voices against any injustice without losing our femineity, integrity, and humility!

Widow Women

The one at Zarephath in the Old Testament and the one who gave her mite in the New Testament challenge us to give even in the face of adverse circumstances. Both gave out of their poverty and necessity rather than out of plenty or prosperity.

Many of us today are reluctant to extend our hand to give, even when we have enough and more. We tend to spend on ourselves and demand much provision from our spouses. We need to be like these women and others who supported Jesus out of their own pockets in His journeys. May our faith move us to give to support His work and His people, even at a personal cost or sacrifice!

Mary

This virgin mother’s acceptance of the call to provide for God with an empty and pure womb to bring forth His Solution to a world under bondage is mind-boggling. She chose to bear the lifelong stigma of being thought of as having loose character and the pain of knowing childbirth without knowing a husband. That she would do it in a time and culture when women were not considered as they are now is even more astounding.

May we be women who would sense God’s need and daringly respond to satisfy it without counting the cost or being limited by our culture or other factors!