The amazing grace of God is that his commands are for our benefit. Think of it like this: as God, he can command us to do whatever he wants, for that is the nature of deity. But along with his supremacy, God is also "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (Ex. 34:6). Therefore, as we mature in our walk with God, we come to understand God's laws not as restrictions but as blessings (as David did in Psalm 19).

Friends, it is the beneficial quality of his law that further motivates our obedience. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this truth at the end of Romans 6. He exhorts his readers to "present your members as slaves to righteousness" (Rom. 6:19) and he could have left it at that. God's word is enough, on its own, for us to obey. But to further provoke our obedience, Paul spells out the respective consequences of sinful and righteous living. As John Calvin once wrote, "For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by His fatherly care, that He is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond Him — they will never yield Him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in Him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him."