450 -- Not a Burden
May 3 (5//3) in Godsfield -- I John 5:3
(For Better or Verse: Each day in 2025 I will begin this Godsfield e-mail with a Bible verse that corresponds with the month (chapter 1-12) and day (verse 1-31) it is sent. This month features a lot of fifth chapters! Those with eyes and ears, let them see and hear.)
1 John 5:3 -- In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
May is the last month we get to read in John's first letter for this calendar, because there are only five chapters in 1 John. But John's letter is filled with this sort of talk -- love, command, spirit, believe.
John, more than anyone else, hammers home the central place of love in our world -- it is God present. ("If I had a hammer .... I'd hammer of love between my brother and my sister, all over this land!) It is how God chooses to be present in this world, and it is what sets godly apart from ungodly in this world.
But look at how John removes "burden" from our behavior and makes it all about the Spirit giving us ability. We keep the commands of God because God gives us the spirit of love.
Any game I play, or project I take on, any event I associate with all come with rules, guidelines, restrictions, boundaries, all of which need to be mastered in order to be completed, enjoyed or accomplished.
But this is different -- we show that we belong to God because we love, and we are able to love because we belong to God. (Love is not an exclusive property of Christians, but it is an exclusive property of God, who chooses to offer it as a taste to those who would imbibe; from there, who knows?
God knows.
And we who are aware of that love, we who know that Jesus is the greatest give of love, who admit and submit to Jesus, are eager to keep his commands, which are no longer rules or restrictions or guidelines or boundaries, but a suit of armor, a dressing gown, an open field, a feast.
The commands are not burdensome, John says; they are natural, obvious, self-rewarding, joyful.
If they are not, that probably means you are placing it on your shoulders, and not on the shoulders of the one who said, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden light."
What a relief. A loving, joyous relief.
Love ya,
Paul