Orders from God …
Why doesn’t God just give us orders?
“Dennis!”
His tone is harsh…
His voice abrupt.
Dennis sighs….
And looks at the ground…
“Move it, Dennis!”
“Your backpack. Move it.”
“The tent goes there.”
“Move it, now!”
Shaking his head, he smirks as if he has just confronted the greatest stupidity the world has ever known.
“Daniel! Hold the other end of the tent!”
“Jane! Put in the tent spikes.”
“Do it right this time.”
Their jobs finished, Dennis, Daniel and Jane stand in a line in front of him.
Their heads tilted down…
Looking at the ground.
More accurately…looking at the sand…
The sand of a beautiful beach…
Overhead, occasional white clouds drift through the blue sky…
In the distance, waves crash on the shore…
Children shout and run, and dive into the water…
Dennis, Daniel and Jane can’t see or hear the glory of the beach…
They stand frozen…
Frozen in a line made perfect by practice.
Frozen stares on their faces…
Stares of sullen obedience…
Obedience born perhaps of fear…
I watched and wondered…
Is that what life would be like if God gave us orders all the time?
You’ve heard the question….
“If there’s a God and if He’s perfect…”
“Why doesn’t He end all pain and suffering by forcing us to do the right thing?”
What would life be like if He ordered us around minute by minute?
Would we follow Him in sullen, fearful obedience?
Our heads tilted to the ground…
Missing the beauty of creation and His glory it proclaims?
Does God want obedience that flows from fear and submission?
Surely He wants obedience that flows from love…
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5
And so he sets the example…
By loving us first…
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
By loving us with a love that is so pure and holy…
It defeats our sin…
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Where God’s love meets life….
That’s where we find orders from God …
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34
Orders from God?
Maybe the real orders from God are all about love…
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
