“If we fail to see the virtue contained within the rules of life, we will receive them as a weighty burden meant for our harm, not our good.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – February 10, 2022
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:2-3, ESV
As a father of three young kids, I’ve had to envision and implement a host of rules and standards by which I expect my children to live, at least for as long as they are under my roof! In part, these decisions are rooted in my vision of a good life and my desire to have them adopt this vision as their own. I believe it is good for them to be responsible and ordered with their possessions, thus, they learn from an early age to clean their rooms. Kindness and respect towards every human being is an essential piece of the puzzle, and so words and actions that demean or diminish their siblings are addressed immediately. Doing hard things in the face of difficulty is an unavoidable reality of adult life, and so, increasingly difficult math homework cannot be avoided or sidestepped.
If we fail to see the virtue contained within the rules of life, we will receive them as a weighty burden meant for our harm, not our good.
For this reason, I frequently try and connect the rules, or to use a biblical word, the commandments, of our home to the virtues they seek to instill and nurture within each of us. This is a vital part of successful parenting, yet it is also of utmost importance to our life with Christ. If we are to truly love and obey our Lord, we must receive his commands as gifts given by a loving and trustworthy parent.
When I was coming of age, I often viewed the commandments of the Lord as obstacles to be overcome, barriers keeping me from the life of freedom, indulgence, and pleasure that I truly and most deeply desired. I questioned not only the commandment, but the one giving the command! It wasn’t until I began to see the love, compassion, and tenderness of God in Christ Jesus that my heart was truly opened to the way of life in which I was invited to walk.
If God is good and loves us more than we even love ourselves, then we love and obey his commands, not from a place of bitterness or resentment, but believing with all our hearts that they are a blessing and never a burden.
Prayer
Father, thank you that in your love you do not leave us as we are, but invite us into ways of life that are for our good and lead us into places of peace and rest, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
What command of the Lord are you most tempted to receive as a burden rather than a blessing?
Related Reading
Psalm 119:33-35; John 14:15; 2 John 1:6
Worship Resource
The Worship Initiative ft. Davy Flowers & Robbie Seay: Come Ye Sinners
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