True obedience

Is obedience merely doing what God says or is there something more to it?

True obedience is as much about intent as it is about action. It isn't about action only, but why we act.

Many are not self aware enough to know the "why" of their actions. But there are several ways to tell. 

Is our "obedience" for our gain and not the gain of others? We may need to probe a bit to know.

If we do not pursue God's commandments out of love for him, and a desire to honor him, it is not true obedience but merely performance to impress others. It is seeking to gain the approval of God and man by our good deeds. 

Doing things to impress others is not true obedience, i.e. it is not actions that comes out of love for another i.e. for another's gain or benefit - but action for my gain. 

This is action to get something for myself, not action to give something of myself.

For example, the Bible says the plowing of the wicked is sin. But how can plowing ever be wrong? It is a wholesome and honorable activity, right?

If we believe we reap the benefits of plowing solely because of our efforts and do not recognize God enabled us to plow - i.e He gave us our mind, body, the tools, and skills to plow - we do not understand or acknowledge that God is the provider and giver of all these things - our time, strength, health, and every resource needed to perform a task, etc. As a result, our plowing honors us, only takes care of us  and brings praise to us, not God who enabled us to plow. If He didn't give us minds, hands, breath and life itself we would not and could not plow. 

In this scenario, our benefit is the reason we take action - i.e. our "why" - for plowing,  not God's honor or acting out of love for Him. 

Therefore, it is an act of arrogance, i.e. rebellious independence from and distrust in God. It is an attempt to gain for ourselves what only can be legitimately and truly found because of God and His generous provisions needed to perform a task. 

This may seem harsh at first since we may not be thinking of God at all. But that is exactly the problem. We do not recognize that all we are and have, our very breath, is a gift from God. 

We assume conduct is

good merely by the external action. However God looks at our heart and the intent behind our actions i.e. is it for self care and bringing praise to me or to honor God (bring attention to God not us) out of love for Him because He honored us by sending Christ to restore us to a right relationship with Him.

For a further discussion of what a good deed is click here.