It's more than law

The Law is the will of God, it is true, but it is no longer the fatherly, personal will, which touches man directly, but it is impersonal, concrete, and fixed. The law is the concrete form of the will of God. Hence it is the will of God, and yet it is not, it is ambiguous. The more legalistic it is, the more it takes statutory form, the less is it identical with the real will of God. It always requires “something”, whereas God does not ask for “something” but always wants “me” for myself. Even where the law is summed up in the commandment of love, and the statutory element has been removed, still, as law, it is not the essential will of God. For the real will of God is not first of all a demand, an abstract demand, but it is first of all the offer of love, and the claim on man to respond to this offered love which is the gift of God. The will of God cannot truly be expressed in the form of the law, of the law in an established or fixed form.—Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, 120

<idle musing>
"It is first of all the offer of love, and the claim on man to respond to this offered love which is the gift of God." That's why I love reading Brunner so much. He cuts through all the clutter and distills the essence.

It truly boils down this this: God offers us unconditional love and acceptance. All we have to do is acknowledge that we need it, and accept his lordship/leadership/guidance. Of course, there's the rub, isn't it? Acknowledging our need of God requires abdicating our illicit claims to the throne of our life and the life of those around us.
</idle musing>