"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." 1 John 5:3
Jesus says that his “yoke is easy, and (his) burden is light” (Mt. 11:30). The purpose of God's commands is not to burden us with a load but to direct us to life, peace, and freedom. God is good and his commands are good. He is the author of life and as such knows what brings life and what destroys life.
Of course, our selfish, rebellious, sinful nature inhibits us from obeying his commandments. His commandments, which are good and life-giving, often seem just the opposite because we can’t obey them on our own. Not only are we incapable of doing what God has said we ought to do but our desires are stained with sin such that we often want to do the very opposite of what God has said is good.
Where's the good news in this? God gave us good commandments that we are incapable of following. Seems pretty depressing. God has ordained that we must turn and trust in him to find life. We are week and hopeless on our own. The Bible calls us slaves to sin. We can't do the good that we know we ought to.
The good news is that Jesus lived the life that we should have lived. Jesus died the death that we should have died. The call to obey God's commandments still exists; if we love God we will seek to obey his commandments. However, we live in an economy of grace. We don't have to earn his love. We can't. Our obedience is NEVER enough. We are motivated to obey his commandments because he has already loved us so extravagantly. There is no need to fear or feel any condemnation.
When we seek to obey his commandments while relying on his grace to save us we are released, little by little, from the power of sin in our lives. This is called sanctification. It is a process meant to free us not to burden us. Furthermore, he has supplied us with his Holy Spirit to strengthen us and change our desires that we may obey him. His commandments are FOR OUR GOOD!
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