Often Christians dismiss rules, as if the most joyful kind of life is the life without restraint, as if grace means we are free to live enslaved to our desires. But the gospel teaches a different way. Here are three ways Christians misunderstand obedience:
1. Jesus came to get rid of the law and thus to get rid of religious rules
2. It’s about Rules Versus Relationship
3. God is a lover, not a rule-giver
I’ve heard quite a few people say things like, ‘The God I know is less concerned with how you live and more about that you love.’ But the Bible says that one sign of fatherly love is discipline, the giving of guidelines and standards that keep children from danger and in the path of flourishing. Consider Heb 12:4-12 where the writer tells us that the mark of a good father is that he instils discipline in his children.
You don’t even have to be a Christian to understand this. How would you feel about parents who let their children run into the street without consequences or have access to the Internet unfiltered all day or who didn’t make their kids bathe? Would you think they are good parents? Or would you think they are neglectful? We know, intuitively, that affection is not the only aspect of good parenting. Love requires us to put limitations, restrictions and rules for our kids because we love them more than they realize. So it is with God. This is why David could write poems about how much he loved God’s law (Psalm 119:97-176). It’s why the biblical writers across the testaments spoke of how good God’s law is (Psalm 19:7-9; Rom 7:12; 1 Tim 1:8).
We can trust that God’s laws are good for us and obey them with confidence. The Creator who made us in his image for his glory knows more about what makes us flourish than we do. Obedience is not just about saying no to ourselves. It’s about saying yes to the freedom of living according to God’s good design.
– Daniel Darling