Think
for a moment of someone who means a lot to you, someone you really
love. It might be your husband or wife, it might be a very good
friend. When you love someone you will do things that they ask you,
because you love them. They may ask you for a favour which doesn’t
really suit you, but you will probably do it anyway because you love
them. Trying to please them is a way of showing that you love them.
Our
relationship with the Lord works the same way. We try to follow the
way of life that he taught us, because we love him. We try to keep
his commandments, because we love him and we believe in what He has
taught us. Trying to follow his teaching is a way of showing God that
we love him and not just because we love him, but also because we
believe what God teaches us gives us life. The path that He has
pointed out to us is the one that will help us the most and lead us
to the greatest happiness. The difficulty is that we cannot see that,
so we are often tempted not to bother.
Because
of what we call Original Sin, we do not enjoy the harmony within our
own selves that God originally intended for us. In other words, there
is a struggle going on within us and one of the effects of that, is
that we don’t always see things as clearly as we should. We often
find it difficult to choose even what we know is right. We are often
suspicious of God and his teachings. We are not always convinced that
God is trying to help us. Think for a moment of times when you see
some situation of terrible suffering on the news, a natural disaster,
or with someone you know, and you find yourself saying, ‘How can
God allow this to happen?’ as though God were to blame. We often
see his commandments as a burden for us, instead of a blueprint, or
plan, that will lead us to the most fruitful way of living. We don’t
see clearly; we are even suspicious of God.
Because
God is all wise, because He can see the whole picture and journey
that is ahead of us, He gives us laws which He knows will help us.
They are commandments, not suggestions. In the Old Testament, when He
gave the law to Moses, He said very definitely, ‘Choose today
blessing or curse, life or death.’ One way leads to life, the other
to death. Each of us still has that choice.
There
is a tendency today, to believe that we can just pick the parts of
our faith that suit us and ignore the other ones. I’ve often heard
people saying, ‘God will understand.’ Or, ‘I’m sure God
doesn’t mind’. But why would God give us commandments if He
doesn’t mind?
Modern
media doesn’t help us either, because it continually shows us that
sleeping around, stealing, murdering, lying and ignoring God, are
quite acceptable. And if we are told something often enough, we will
begin to believe it. That’s how advertising works. If you keep
repeating the message it will stick. It is de-sensitizing us to
sin and to what is wrong.
Now
to go back to the words of Christ: ‘If you love me you will keep my
words.’ And then He says, ‘Peace I leave you, my own peace
I give you.’ It’s as if He is saying this is what follows when
you live my words. We receive peace, a deep peace which is the
assurance of God’s presence, even when we are struggling. The Lord
knows well how much we struggle to live by his teaching. Everyone who
tries to live it struggles, but the Lord is telling us not to be
afraid of the struggle, because it is the path that leads to heaven,
the only path worth following.
‘If
you love me you will keep my commandments.’
No comments:
Post a Comment