The apostle Paul called such a legalistic keeping of rules a "yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1, KJV)

I read a story some time ago from Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International. It was about a woman who was married to a tyrant of a husband who didn't like the way she kept house. He didn't like the way she ran the home. He didn't like the way she dressed. He constantly criticized her for everything.

One day he handed her a list of 25 rules for her to follow. Oh, how she hated him! You can imagine how frustrating it was to her to have to constantly check her list to see if she was pleasing him to stay out of trouble. She usually failed miserably, and each time she got a tongue-lashing. Then, one day, much to her great joy, the abusive husband died.

Soon she fell in love with, and married a wonderful loving husband. They loved each other very much. She practically broke her neck to please him - and even brought him breakfast in bed!

One day she ran across that old list, and the hatred for her old husband returned. But suddenly she began to laugh. As she checked every item on the list she realized that she was now doing all those things for her new husband and much more. And she did it with great joy because she loved him.

This was a great revelation to her, and for us it demonstrates a great spiritual truth concerning our relationship with God. There are many people who serve God and keep his commandments out of sheer fear that God is a brutal tyrant, like that husband, just waiting for an excuse to punish us. It is very important to have fear for God in us, in the sense of reverence and respect, but not fear of some potential oppression from God. God does not abuse his children.

The pathway to God is not found by fear or following a creed, developing moral character or attending church. It is simply found in those words we all learned in Sunday school, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so."

Simple trust and simple faith. The key is understanding God's great loving nature and how much he loves us, so much that he sent his only begotten son to die for us. When we understand that, then our service to him will be with joy. This is the attitude of the heart that will bring us home to God.

God's peace be with you all.

Your friend and pastor
Samuel King-Kabu
pastor@st-ansgars-montreal.ca

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Roger Kenner & Jette Blair.
Content-New Topics Last Updated: 2003/06/19
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal