Have you ever had someone tell you they don’t want to follow Jesus cause he’s going to take all their fun away?
Or maybe they’ll quote the 10 commandments and say “why would I want to follow those? That’s boring!”
There’s a law in Bible Study called the law of first mention. Anytime something is first mentioned in the Bible. It usually carries that connotation the rest of the Bible.
So that got me to thinking. What was the first commandment in the Bible? Cause maybe that will give us a clue as to why we are called to love God by obeying his commands.
Here it is
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” Gen 1:28
God’s first command was to be fruitful. Meaning they were to have lots of babies. And I don’t think we need to be a rocket scientist to know how babies are made. Despite what your Mom might have told you, they don’t come from the stork!
God actually created the act that brings fruit to feel really good! Can you believe that?! God made obeying his very first command really pleasurable!
So what about his other commands?
The Bible says that Jesus came to give us life and life abundantly. So anything Jesus commands us to do is going to be rooted in giving us life.
If he tells us to forgive no matter what. He’s not telling us to do that because he wants us to let people walk all over us. He knows that unforgiveness actually breeds sickness, disease & ultimately death in our bodies and our emotions. So he says forgive people cause it will bring you life!
He tells us to not have sex with anyone other than your spouse, not because he’s a prude but because He knows the kind of things that happen emotionally and physically to those who are promiscuous. And he don’t want you to deal with those things!
Every command in the Bible can actually be shown to bring life & life more abundantly!
So…next time your grandma says “Thou Shalt Not….” Remember, it’s because she wants you to have true life!
Many Blessings,
RK
