Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:
the blessing if you take to heart the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today,
and the curse if you pay no attention to his commandments and turn from the way I am setting before you today to pursue other gods you have not known.
Then Samuel said,
“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as he does in obedience?
Certainly, obedience is better than sacrifice;
paying attention is better than the fat of rams.
If only you had obeyed my commandments,
prosperity would have flowed to you like a river,
deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea.
I also explicitly commanded them: “Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you.”
“If you love me, you will obey my commandments.
The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”
But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.
Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.
The one who says “I have come to know God” and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person.
But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.
The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.