Called to a Higher Way

When one of my granddaughters was little, she went through a phase where she would disobey and then, almost immediately, look up with big eyes and say in the sweetest, saddest voice, “I’m sorry, Grandma.” It became a familiar routine—disobedience followed by apology. One day, feeling a bit exasperated, I said, “You can’t keep doing what you know is wrong and then just say you’re sorry. If you really love Grandma, you’ll obey.” She nodded earnestly and promised to do better, but before long, we found ourselves back in the same cycle.

After one especially frustrating day, I sensed the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart: Linda, how many times have you behaved like your granddaughter? You confess the same sin repeatedly, promising to do better, only to stumble into the same pattern. His truthful words pierced me. I knew that after every fall, shame and guilt trailed close behind, shadowing my steps.

Yet even as those feelings of failure settled in, His voice was tender, not condemning. The Lord was not pointing out my weakness to shame me but to remind me of His patience and grace. Just as I loved my granddaughter through her repeated, “I’m sorry,” responses, God loves me through mine. His mercy does not excuse disobedience. It invites transformation, gently drawing me to obedience born out of love for Him, not fear.

The Last Commandment

Days before He left this earth, Jesus startled His disciples by giving a new commandment. Perhaps they wondered how He could add anything to The Ten Commandments, which formed the moral fabric of Jewish life for centuries. Yet He did: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another: (John 13:34-35).

The Old Testament law declares, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).  This command appears in a passage that warns against hatred, revenge, and holding grudges against fellow Israelites. It stands as a foundational, ethical principle in Hebrew Scriptures.

However, in the New Testament, Jesus elevates this command. Instead of measuring how we love ourselves, He calls us to love as He loves us. Scripture explains, “while we were enemies,” Christ died for us (Romans 5:8–10), taking upon Himself the judgment we deserved so that our relationship with God could be restored. This “new commandment” highlights obedience to a selfless, sacrificial, and compassionate love—the distinguishing mark of His followers. Jesus demonstrated this love in His actions, by washing His disciples’ feet, even Judas. Such love becomes the ultimate test of our faith: this kind of love demonstrates to the world that we are His disciples.

Invitations into the Heart of His Love

Of course, when we fail, often repeatedly like my sweet granddaughter, our Abba Father has compassion on us as Scripture explains: "As a father shows compassion to his childre, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:13-14).

These truths remind us that God's commands are not burdens meant to crush us but invitations into the heart of His love. He calls us to a higher way--not in our own strength, but in the strength of the One who loved us first and still loves us faithfully even when we stumble. As we respond to His Word with humble obedience, we reflect His character more clearly. Then our lives reflect the same compassion, patience, and sacrificial love that Christ Himself has shown us.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be.

Let Thy goodness like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,

I shall see Thy lovely face: Clothed then in blood washed linen

How I'll sing thy sovereign grace. . ..[1]                    

The hymn reminds us how far this grace has brought us, and how the "streams of mercy" have never ceased. How great that grace that keeps us in Christ!

[1] Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, text by Robert Robinson (1758);  melody  by John Wyeth