Why all of these Rules?

Commands, Authority, Rules, Restrictions.

These are all words that we in American especially dislike. We dislike them because since we come out of the womb we have been told that life is all about us. From Fast food, to Televisions, to Ads, etc. We are driven by freedom or power. We want power and control over our own lives. All of us, me included. That’s why we complain so much if things don’t go our way. And whenever we have bosses, parents, teachers etc, telling us what to do us we try to duck them every chance we get.

This mindset is no different in the heart of many Christians. And honestly it is in my heart in so many ways. The reason for this is that we have taken our examples of Authority and placed them as labels upon God. And when God commands something we begin to question it and try to duck it. What we are really saying is that God is wicked and has no idea what you need. But isn’t that insane that We think the God of the universe who holds all things together with His hands and yet came down in the form of man to die for us, doesn’t know what we need? How can this be?

So when I came to a scripture in first John I too began to question my initial reaction to this verse:
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.“

My initial reaction was a wow, How can this be? Because you see in my own life I have so many times done what is contrary to what God has commanded. In essence I have called Him wicked. See when someone commands something it is a direct expression of who they are. Take for example Adolf Hitler. He commanded the thousands to be killed yet never did it with his own hands. But in his commands he shows his heart. Thus in God commands he shows his Person and Heart.

This then leads me to a claim that the apostle John makes in First John about who God is, that “God is Love”. Thus if God is love then anything he tells us to do will be out of love and for our good. Let’s take for example the one of the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” which Jesus takes even further “Do not lust after a woman in your heart”. We could see this command as God being Authoritarian and not letting us have sex. Really what He is saying is Lust/Sex outside of marriage is not the way I made things to be and if you go against it things will be bad. This has been proven by millions of experiences of hurt and pain from sex outside of marriage and how it keeps you in its cords. But what God is also saying is that the things he commands against are opposite of His Person and thus sin. See sin is just the opposite of God’s person and God must punish it. That is why Jesus came to take our punishment for sin and reconcile us to God! That when we trust in Christ alone to save us He will and as Christians we continue to come back to who God is, and Submit to His Ruling in our lives.

So in conclusion, Will you see God’s rules as a Burden or will you see God behind them pleading to your heart to go His way and fall deeper in love with Him and not yourself and sin?