Love and God's Laws

Carole M. Stephens told of an experience she had with her granddaughter Chloe. Sister Stephens was driving Chloe somewhere, but Chloe would not keep her seatbelt on. No matter what Sister Stephens said or did, Chole could not be convinced to stay seated, until Sister Stephens said a silent prayer and felt impressed to "teach her." Sister Stephens then showed Chloe her own seatbelt and explained that she wore it for protection. She said that she didn't want Chloe to get hurt, and asked her again to stay in her seatbelt. This time, Chloe understood, and she said "Grandma, you want me to wear my seat belt because you love me!"

Yesterday, I blogged about how God's barriers and restrictions exist to protect us, but at the time, I didn't consider the fact that God wants to protect us because He loves us, but of course, everything God does, He does because He loves us.

Sister Stephens went on to say:

After my experience with Chloe, I searched the scriptures for verses that mentioned commandments and love. I found many. Each of these verses reminds us that His commandments are a manifestation of His love for us and obedience to His commandments is an expression of our love for Him.

I know that God's commandments are evidence of His love for us, and our obedience to His commandments is evidence of our love for Him. It has never been about an set of arbitrary rules that God demands that we follow "because I said so." Each of His commandments ahs a good reason behind it, and even when we don't know the reason for a commandment and God asks us to accept it on faith, we can exercise faith in God by trusting that we will learn the reason for the commandment in due time.

I am thankful to know that God's laws were given out of love, that He's not just trying to rule over us, but that He's trying to keep us safe. That knowledge makes it easier for me to accept His commandments, even the ones I don't fully understand, and that makes it easier for me to avoid pitfalls and claim promised blessings. I know that my life has been blessed by the knowledge that God's commandments are manifestations of his love and that I can show my love for God by keeping them.