Enjoying God’s Commandments
Excerpt from 1 John 5:1-5
"The proof that we love God comes when we keep God’s commandments and they are not at all troublesome." (The Message)
Reflection by William C. Green
Sharing groups at church rarely share much when God’s commandments come up. The Ten Commandments take second place to the Great Commandment, loving God and others. That can seem safer because it’s more general and could mean a number of things. Besides, guilt isn’t a good idea: it’s not healthy, and I’d rather keep it to myself.
Emile Zola said "I came to live life out loud." We all need to be heard, recognized, by one another. This is hard when we live against our nature—against what the faithful call the image of God, against what sociobioligists, not naming God, call the orientation to others by which the fittest survive.
We love God, we love others, when we love ourselves. We can't love ourselves when we live at odds with ourselves. We live at odds with ourselves when we forget God's commandments and get ensnared in our own ways. Groups at church may not be the best place to open up. But if the church isn’t a recovery group it shouldn't be a cover-up group. We are all recovering from something. More people can understand this than we suppose. There are friends to trust, a pastor to turn to, a counselor sensitive to faith—and groups at church that could use, and welcome, a lot more openness.
Repentance is turning toward God and learning to enjoy ourselves, and one another, free at last.
Prayer
Gracious God, may I find in your will my way. Amen.
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