Parents have lots of hopes and dreams for their children. Generally, they wish that their children will succeed in life and experience success. I hope that my daughter will grow up to be happy and contented with her life and that she will love God with all her heart, and with all her soul and with all her strength (see Deuteronomy 6:5, the Shema). I sense in our text for today that God is a God who desperately desires for his children to love him and obey him. God tells Moses in 5:29, “If only they [this people] had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!” (NRSV). And realizing that the Israelites would not keep their end of the covenant, God told them to return to their tents. He would continue to speak to them through Moses, God’s sole mediator to the people.

As our Heavenly Father, God desires for us to obey him. These words are echoed by Jesus in John 14:15 – “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (NIV). Again, we see a desperate desire that God has for his children to be obedient. And obedience is inextricably linked to unconditional love. Christian discipleship seeks to please our Father in heaven. The Good News for Christians is that we have a mediator in Jesus Christ. When we don’t live up to the commitment confessed in our baptism, we rely on his grace to reconcile us to God. Our baptism is wrapped up in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. God’s hopes and dreams for our obedience came at a price. His grace is not cheap.  Grace and Peace, Pastor Bob