Keep

. . . keep my commandments.

 - From John 14

A casual look at current events shows us how very distasteful it is, to be told to do something, by someone else. Little kids get this, early in life. They resist being told what to do. We don't even think twice . . . we want to push back, rather than yield to the wishes, and whims, of someone else.

The only reasons we do what we're told, are to avoid some consequence that is worse than compliance; or to receive some reward that we view as of greater value than obeying.

And so, we see "resistance" as either a virtue, because it is ennobling of the human spirit, or ugly, if it appears as just unreasoning anger.

Some people would rather just lie, than to follow the directives of an authority figure, not to lie. It's ingrained in our DNA. Our strivings for independence are two sides to the same coin that shows us at our best, and at our worst, depending on one's perspective.

It's hard to follow someone's "commandments," even if they come from a loving God and His Son. And yet, it is what we're called to do, over and over again, throughout Scripture.

Jesus uses the word "keep," to convey the point. And, "keep," in my view, is a nice word. You "keep" things that you cherish.

I had some things in my past, that I cherished deeply - a journal that I kept, from the age of about fourteen, until when in my early thirties an experience with an early relationship lead me to toss it in a dumpster (it's a long story).

As a genealogist, I regret getting rid of a photograph that my Grandmother gave me, ages ago, in which she did not know any of the people. I was a teenager that then assumed it must not be anybody we're related to. I wish I had that photo now, to solve some deep ongoing brick walls in my research.

We keep things we treasure . . . because perhaps we know how we would feel if, years from now, we wished we still had them around.

We call them "keepsakes," which is another nice word.

You might choose to "keep" something, that someone else would throw away. Things we keep have distinct value, maybe only to us, alone.

That's the idea about keeping the commandments of Christ. When it comes from Him, it is not some harsh directive. It's not some exercise of vain power and control, on His part. His commandments come from His supreme understanding of the way things work . . . the way everything works. His knowledge of things comes from being God's Son, and perhaps from fifteen to twenty years of tutelage, during the period of His life that was not recorded.

Christ imparts His very special and intimate knowledge of Creation and Eternity, to us. We call them "commandments." We should treat them as something that we would keep, and treasure.

This keeping of His commandments results in, over time, a greater awareness of the things Christ knows. His Spirit resides in us . . . our understanding increases. And I believe, over time, we begin to touch eternity, ourselves. And this, in turn, makes it easier to understand His commandments, and such mysteries as "Why would a loving God allow suffering?"

Let's not blindly follow Christ, or anybody. But let us keep and cherish everything that He has offered to us.