Love and obedience

My first first-grade Sunday School class was something of a disaster. Or rather, two or three boys made enough commotion to make it seem like one while it was happening. I understand I'm dealing with a large room of six-year-old children, but it is still frustrating for me when they don't listen to me. 

Ironically, our lesson set this trimester is on obedience even when it is hard. Our Bible verse for the morning was "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15). I wrote that without looking it up. I doubt anybody else in the class could repeat it back to me with all the commotion at the back table.

I was thinking a lot about that verse today. When I was a kid, I thought it was kind of harsh. "Love me means you do what I say"? Why not just have slaves? Why bring love into it? I read the sentence as prescriptive, another command on top of the long list of commands. 

But it isn't prescriptive. It's descriptive. It's like saying, "If you love me, you will like spending time with me" or "If you love me, you will speak well of me to others." The heart is always revealed in actions.

The boys I had the most trouble from today were kids I hadn't worked with before much, or at all. I had a few problems with some other boys, too, but when I would ask them to stop they would stop...at least for as long as they seemed to remember I had asked them to do so. Which is maybe as close to the spirit of that descriptive phrase as any of us can ever get here on this earth.

I'm thankful for the Spirit who strengthens our memories, and for being able to see him working in six-year-old boys who love me enough to stop throwing papers around. Even if it's just for a few minutes.