Because I said so?

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Published on Thursday, May 14, 2015

By Rev. Glenna Beauchamp

Rivers and Oak River United Churches

“But why?” my sister, brothers and I would ask when Mom told us we couldn’t do something we wanted to do. She would try to explain her reasons but if we still kept on, her standard response became: “Because I said so,” and we knew that was the end of the conversation.

Because I said so.

I always thought this was God’s response, too, when we questioned His laws and limits on us, but in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, God tells His people they should obey His commandments, “That it may go well with you.” God doesn’t just give us laws to prove He’s the boss of us, but so that “it may go well” with us. 

As our creator, God knows what we need to do and avoid in order to have a good life. As our Father, that is what God wants for us. Jesus said He came that we might have life in all its fullness. Jesus re-affirmed God’s intentions that we live a good life. That’s what God’s laws are about.