I watch my wife holding our contented 7 month old baby girl in the morning light. The child playfully grabbed at her mother’s hair and face. It seems sweet and innocent enough, but, at the ends of those adorable, chubby, little digits are tiny razors called “baby fingernails”! I was glad to be an observer instead of the one having his face scratched! I was struck though with the thought that “obedience”, “discipline”, “sin” and such things are not even a consideration between these two i’m staring at. My wife doesn’t even try to command this child. She takes no offense at the hair-pulling and skin-scratching. And the baby is aware of no evil intent. Its quite a beautiful time of life.

I think of our time in the garden in much the same way. Before our mother and father had eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Disobedience wasn’t even a thought. Neither was obedience. The relationship simply did not operate in that way. Such peace between the Father and His children. Living together. Being who they are.

Babies get older. Life doesn’t stay so simple. The knowledge of good and evil enters the picture and so begins the great dance of parent and child. Action and reaction, direction and response, honor and independence… There is a sadness when a parent must begin disciplining his child. Where did the sweetness and innocence of infancy go? Why do we now seem at odds with one another? Yet, there is a beauty here too. Parent and child learning to respect one another. Parent granting freedom for the child to be who she is; setting boundaries to help the child honor others. The child learning to respect the parent by yielding to his wishes and, hopefully, receiving the impartation of the values behind the commands.

We have such a time with the Lord, don’t we? Learning to obey Him, simply because He’s in charge. Learning that His commands are motivated by His love for us; His boundaries free us to become who we really are. The knowledge of good and evil. The law.

I don’t obey my parents anymore. It’s not even a thought in my mind, or in theirs for that matter. I am grown. I left their house, married a wife, established my own household; i’m now raising my own children. I don’t ask my parents for permission. They don’t call me and tell me what to do. We don’t even think about such things anymore! They are done commanding me. Hopefully, i have internalized the lessons of love that their commands always carried. That love living in me now expresses itself differently: honor. I honor my mom and dad. I love them so much and desire to live the values they imparted to me. Not to gain their approval: i already have it. I simply desire to live the love they gave me because i see that it is good and it makes me happy to bring them joy through my life.

That will be my great joy: when my children no longer obey me. When i no longer command them. When i watch them live the love i imparted to them through all my rules and requests, living and loving. They will express that love in unique ways, true to who God designed them to be. It will be a great day when my children and i no longer think in terms of command and obedience. We’ll just think in terms of love.

We’ll go there with the Lord too. Jesus summarizes the law: to love God, to love one another. There comes a time when He no longer calls us servants, but rather, friends. We no longer call Him “Master”, but “Husband”. Watch and see: the commandments will become fewer and fewer. As Love works it’s way into us, conforming us to it’s nature, more and more we will simply move in Love. Not in response to a command, but in desire to live the Love we’ve been given. Obedience will be less and less of a thought on our minds, or His. We can’t rush this of course. We’ve got to take the time to grow up and yield to the stages. There will be a day in which we no longer think in terms of commandment and obedience. We will think and live in love.