When I think about obedience to commands. I suppose that betrays my gut assumption about what sort of person gives commands: Someone difficult to please, who is just setting up hoops to jump through, who is carefully screening my every move for every misstep that warrants correcting.
I fear failing. And there is no joy in fear. It’s rather miserable, honestly. And no teeth-gritting obedience will force the joy to bubble up to the surface. As long as the fear is there, it will stay bottled up.
However, if I could change my assumption about the command-giver, maybe everything else would change. Maybe my fears would fall like dominoes.
What if the command-giver loved me deeply? What if my obedience was a way of returning that love? What if my obedience brought the command-giver so much joy, that it spilled over into my own heart?
This, Jesus taught, was the nature of his relationship with the Father. And thus the nature of the relationship he invites us into:
Loving commands. Loving obedience. Absolute joy.
