God’s commands are an eternal vision of our new identity in Christ. God made you know so He knows how you work. He knows what’s best. He’s the perfectly awesome dad we all wish we had — the dad who has fun with his kids and protects them from danger. Super-Dad.

When guilt threatens to overwhelm you, remember who you are: you’re a child of God, forgiven and free, restored by the work of Jesus on the cross, resurrected to new life by his victory over death, and you have the Holy Spirit living inside you that is not a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love, power, and self-control.

We don’t live in a locked-down house of laws — we live within the free grace of an awesome loving dad who wants us, who loves us, and who likes us. I’ll follow that sort of God all the way to the end.

— J.S.