17th Sunday after Pentecost 6.10.19 Commandments
We can think of commandments as a burden – Oh, we have to do
this and we have to avoid that – and this may be the opposite of what we feel.
It is possible to see God as a hard taskmaster, as someone
who is giving out orders, and then punishing if not obeyed. This is not how He
wants us to see Him.
God's commandments express His mind; they are what He would
do if He were living a human life on
earth (which is just what He did do, in the person of Our Lord). He would not
kill or steal or lie etc. And He would show great care for His neighbour, and
forgive those who offended Him etc.
What He would or would not do is how the Commandments were
formed. This is where they come from.
If we break a commandment we are acting in a way that is
alien to God, contrary to His nature or will.
However, knowing this, we can still find it difficult to
keep the Commandments.
Even if we want to keep them we just cannot do it, or we
think we cannot. There is just not enough fuel in the tank to get us as far as
we need to go, we would say.
It may be natural to God but we seem to struggle. It is no
great effort for Him; all He is doing is what His nature dictates. It is what
He is, what He does – He is like that.
Everything about God is in perfect harmony. All that is
true, good and beautiful comes from Him.
Keeping commandments is along the same line. Simply draw
from the truth and apply it in each case.
This is how we need to be, such that goodness comes automatically
from a well-adjusted nature.
This is how divine nature works, and human nature is supposed
to work. We are still in for repairs, even after 2000 years!
We are being reformed to see as God sees, to want what He
wants; so that there is no more tension or friction between what we want and
what we do. No teeth-gritting obedience, but freely and joyfully, from the
heart.
We are no longer going against the grain; now we are living
as we were designed. We are like birds in flight, or fish in water.
This is what it means to love God with our whole heart and
soul (Gospel). It means that we are at one with Him in what we want and what we
will do. A state of perfect union is what we call Love.
Loving neighbour works the same way. We come to see the
other person as God sees him.
Our initial reactions of resentment, anger etc give way as
we take on more of God's nature.
When Jesus was crucified He did not resent the people
crucifying Him. He wanted to save them from the evil which presently afflicted
them.
He commands us to be the same way – no small thing – but
possible if united with Him.
If we still need the fear of hell to prompt us, by all means
call on that.
If we need to use reason that it must always be better to
obey than disobey God, then do that too.
Eventually we will not need to think our way there. It will
be as natural as breathing.
We will get through a day, not commandment by commandment (I
got four right today, only two wrong), but we can glide through them all, no longer
an effort.
Agreeing with God. His will is my will.
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