By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

1 John 5: 2-3

While there is a reason for guardrails and speed limits and concerns about distracted driving, I often push the limits a little myself. Sometimes a speed limit seems to be restrictive, doesn’t it? Will a guardrail really keep a car from tumbling over? Based on what we observed today, the answer is yes. Today Patrina and I took note of a minivan that was lodged on a rocky hillside near Louisville after hitting a guardrail at a pretty high rate of speed based on the damage.

Some see the commandments of God as restrictive but pursuing a life that honors God really helps us avoid some of the pain of life. If you’ve experienced broken trust, a broken relationship, a broken life due to bad choices or if you’ve been the victim of someone else’s choices, you understand the phrase a pastor in Chicago meant when he said “When God says don’t, He means don’t hurt yourself.” Oddly enough, that same pastor hurt himself and his congregation as well when he ignored the guardrails.

God gives us great freedom to experience life to the full and that kind of life is best lived when we avoid the things that knock us off the road and bring pain to our lives. Jeremiah communicated these words on God’s behalf to His people: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you (Jeremiah 7:23).”

“That it may be well with you” – God has the best in mind for us.