Adherence to the Law by the Grace of God

Have you ever used one of those fitness apps or devices? This convenient, inflexible program meticulously records health-related details: blood pressure, weight, activity, sleep, etc. There is a not-so-terrible mission behind it all: quantification for the purpose of better health and better living. Take more steps today than you did yesterday! Get more sleep than you did last night! Stay healthy! Good numbers are equated with good health, and good health is, of course, equated with a good life. But there's something of a dark side: Take a day off, grab a treat, and watch your numbers suffer. Nothing like heavy-handed restriction to engage folks in the practice of wellness! The device that sits on the wrists of my family and friends is little more than a legalistic little tyrant. Some are crippled by its judgment, while others have become calloused and ignore it altogether. Neither choice is helpful and its mission goes unaccomplished.     

The law of the Lord has been perverted in much the same way. This is nothing new: God, through Solomon warns, There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). When the law, the rules become your god; when specifics and boxes checked become the things you worship, perversion has occurred. Going back to the aforementioned gadget, if its numbers are meant to give us a picture or a path to good health with the objective of improving our life, we take those numbers as a part of a whole, the means to an end; not the end itself. Changing these criteria for the better will improve one aspect of my life, but they are not life as a whole. God's people, Israel, looked at the criteria God had given them and made adherence to it their god. Finger pointing and added benchmarks were the result; heavy burdens laid on the people. Others wearied of trying to keep up and simply gave up, following the practices of nearby religions instead or merging the practices of Mosaic law with other ideas in a wholly undefined syncretism. The same is true today. Again, mission unaccomplished. So, why did God write things like the Ten Commandments? Why were there so many laws in the Book of Leviticus? Am I saying we are free from obeying them?

Well, there were laws given that were specific to the circumstances of God's people at the time; laws for living as a nation and laws for living without things like refrigeration and toaster ovens; laws meant for their protection in an ancient agrarian society that was, for a period, nomadic and would eventually be called upon to fight some pretty fierce enemies. I'm not getting into the woods with those things, but the law of God's word is generally viewed as having three purposes: a rule, a mirror, and a curb. 

    A rule: God's laws give the blueprint for the life we are able to live when believers allow themselves to be governed by the Holy Spirit. It shows us how to honor the God we worship and what the standard of being holy as our God is holy looks like. 

    A mirror: When we consider a holy, perfect God, and experience our own inability to achieve that holiness and perfection, we see ourselves more rightly. Without a list of criteria to meet, we can feel pretty good about ourselves. The law is that criteria and our true state is woefully inept (at the least), wicked at its core. This is our need for a perfect Savior.

    A curb: Societies throughout history have thrived when they have obeyed God's laws. Call it pragmatic, but the law of God is good for all of humanity. Obedience to it staves off the reign of darkness across the globe.

So, yes, we should obey God's law. Yes, we should want to obey the commands of our King. No, they did not become obsolete when Jesus paid our debt on the cross. And no, they do not offer us salvation or guarantee a relationship with Jesus Christ. Praise God, His people today are offered the ability to live under the grace of God by the mercy of God poured forth at the cross. By His grace, we receive the Holy Spirit who enables us to obey His precepts and become holy in heart and conduct. Our infractions are no more calculated on some spiritual scale than our good deeds are tallied to establish our worth before Him. His children are freed to delight in His law, giving thanks for perfect boundaries set not by a legalistic tyrant but by a loving God. And His work will be brought to completion. Of that we are assured!