A Christian doesn't do something in order to gain God's favor. The Christian life is not about how you can prove yourself toward God, but about a worship-response to what God has done for you. There is nothing you could do to earn God's favor. There is nothing to be gained, as if I could secure God's pleasure by my "checklist obedience".
What about guilt? "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome..." What is the point of obedience? If obedience is about the act itself, obedience becomes a checklist. Has God designed obediece as a checklist? Where are the commands pointing? My experience has been that the imperative drowns out or minimizes how glorious God truly is. Somehow, through obedience to the imperative, I miss knowing God. If the focal point of obedience is on appeasement or the quality of the obedience act itself, then obedience becomes more about me than about God. If, in giving thanks to God, I concentrate on something in myself, I lose all genuine affection for the Giver of all good, and fail to taste how glorious He truly is. When obedience becomes adherance to the imperative, one will never know the length and height and width and depth of God's love. He will miss it from preoccupation with performance.
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