I found something interesting in SOP this morning which started a train of thought...
If the Ten Commandments really are Ten Promises (see 1BC 1105.1), then they really are moreso descriptive statements than they are commands - descriptive of how a true child of God will act when he truly loves God.
Take the Law of Gravity, for instance. If you hold an apple above your head and suddenly let go, does that apple have to struggle and put forth effort in order to comply with the Law of Gravity and fall to the ground? Of course not! That's silly, right? It is merely a natural, predictable phenomenon - what goes up must come down.
It is the same with the Law of God - the Decalogue. Those 10 Laws are merely descriptive of what will happen when you are subject to God's rulership in your life, just as the Law of Gravity is descriptive of what will happen to weighty objects subject to the atmosphere of Earth.*
The difference between people and apples is that we have a choice as to whether or not we will be subject to the Law. (Apples, obviously, do not.) Keeping the Law is not the problem; choosing to be subject to the Law every moment, by accepting God's sovereignty over us, this is where we find our perpetual battle. When we fully accept Him, it will be (through His power) but a natural, predictable phenomenon for us to abide by His Laws and display His character.
Isn't that beautiful?
"You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will. He will then work in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ." ~ Steps to Christ, p. 31
*Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. Please forgive my painfully pathetic description of the law of gravity. Thanks.
