To listen to kids, they must believe that moms and dads get together and figure out ways to keep their kids from having fun. After all, every kid at some time or another has uttered those words to their parents: “You never want me to have any fun.”
Of course, that is just a young mind that does not understand. Sadly, however, people sometimes feel the same way toward God. They must think that God figured out all the fun things and then decided to make them sins.
Such thoughts are the thoughts of a baby Christian. Any mature Christian would cast such thinking from their mind. God made us, and he made us for joy! As Paul told the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (4:4)
Let’s turn our attention to another verse, 1 John 5:3. It reads, “This is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”
Look at that again: “His commands are not burdensome.” You may have thought so at the time, but when you look back through the wisdom of time, you will understand two things:
1. Why He gave us the commands he did.
2. Why he gave us limits.
Let me illustrate this with a personal story. When I was 6 years old, I saw a movie about the frontiersman Jim Bowie. What a man! He could get out of any dangerous situation with his knife. He could throw it and stop the danger. I went home and wanted to be like him. I didn’t have a throwing knife. The closest thing I could find was my mother’s kitchen knife. I figured I could practice throwing that knife at a tree and get good at it like Jim Bowie. I went to my mother and asked her if I could borrow the kitchen knife to practice throwing it. I don’t need to tell you her answer.
I thought her rejection of my plan was mean. If I had known the word, I would have called it burdensome.
Only when I got older and more mature did I understand that she made her decision with an eye toward my best interest.
Someday, you will understand why God gave us the commands that he did. They are not burdensome but for our best interest.
Lonnie Davis