Obeying God's Commands
_____________________
If we really KNEW God, knew His character, knew His love for us, we would obey His commands. Jesus says in John 14:15 that "If you love me, you will obey my commands." On first glance it sounds like a controlling or blackmailing friend, family member, or significant other trying to coerce you into doing something. The word love in Greek means "to love dearly" or "to be fond of." If we knew God on such an intimate level that we loved Him DEARLY, or were FOND of Him, it would radically alter our perspective on God's commands. He is our creator, knows everything about us, and we know NOTHING compared to His all-encompassing knowledge, His omniscience! He gave us laws for our own good, so that we could have a great life here. People talk bad about these commands like they are an evil or restricting thing, but they are a gift to us, a necessary thing! When He commands not murder, steal, or lie, it is not a restricting thing at all, He is just saying "Hey, this would be a better place if you didn't kill each other, lie to each other, or steal and rip each other off." When He says not to have pride, He is saying "Your life is going to be easier, you'll get along with other people better, and you can realize how much I have done for you if you're not puffed up on your own pride all the time." When He says not to mess around with our significant other before you're married, He's simply saying "Hey if you don't get so physically and emotionally intimate with your girlfriend, if you don't idolize her, if you focus on Me while you're with her, you're going to end up better in the long run, it's going to be so much better if you save that intimacy for the one person you end up marrying and experience that intense love and desire for your one companion for life." When He says not to look at a girl in a lustful way, He's not trying to take away your enjoyment and appreciation of God's creation which is beautiful, He's just saying "Hey that girl is going to respect you more, you will have more respect for her, you'll save yourself pain and desire from longing after something you won't have, and you'll appreciate true intimacy that goes beyond surface level beauty if you don't look at a girl that's not your wife in that way."
God isn't trying to take away ANYTHING from us, He's only trying to GIVE life to us and keep us from destruction. If that is still hard to believe, consider the fact that He gave His own son for us! He loved us so much, He wanted to give us LIFE so much, that even though we broke His laws and committed a crime against Him, He sent His only son, who He loved so dearly, to the earth to be punished and killed, paying the penalty for our own sin that we deserved so that we would not have to spend eternity in the worst place imagineable-- Hell, apart from Himself! How would a God that is willing to give the most precious thing to Himself, His own Son, take away from us any kind of joy or satisfaction? Hardly! His commands are for our benefit, His laws have been given to us because He loves us and has the BEST plan, beyond what we could imagine, for our lives. We might not understand why He commands some things, our own understanding might even lead us to think that the best thing would actually be in opposition to His command, but He gave us that command out of love for us and wanting the best for us!
Therefore, if we loved Christ, if we REALLY knew Him on such an intimate level, if we truly realized His love for us and understood that He would suffer and endure all the sin of the world to give us life, we would understand that His commands are only for our own good, and we would obey His commands.
No comments:
Post a Comment