I was just chatting with a Christian friend who purportedly likes rules because they make things clear to follow and, hence, help determine the right course of action or decision. Yet this friend feels tortured when she is somehow made to break rules, or when rules are suspended in her favour after she has broken them.
I asked if she love those rules in a manner that is not about practicality or functionality but actually appreciate the heart of the rules and meaning of them. Not always, she recognises.
Yet the Psalmist could say in Psalm 112 as well as 119 (they may or may not be written by the same author) that he delights in God’s laws and statues or that one who delights in it is blessed. How do you love rules? How do you delight in these things anyways? Surely it is because you’ve grasp and understood the spirit beyond them and what they were set out to do. And in order to do that you, must embrace the character and spirit of the one who have put these rules in place.
It is in fearing God, loving God where we find ourselves delighting in the statues of God because He had put them in place as a manner of relating to us and guiding us, revealing His intentions and His designs. And that’s why the Bible often portrays obedience as a consequence of love. That is what it means to fear God – to be in awe of Him, His works, His intents. We can love God, and learn to love His laws but still struggle with them, and struggle with obedience. Until we are about to allow our will to be subject to Him, and to have our will be aligned to loving and serving Him, there will always be a tension.
Which is why I determined that each day, we are choosing to be Christians all over again. Conscious that our every deed and, in fact, every decision will bring us back to consider our faith in the Lord.