Love vs. the Law

LOVE vs THE LAW

The LAW screams “Responsibility!”

LOVE says “Just respond to Me”

We never know what lies ahead each day as the Lord guides us in the newness of His Spirit rather than the oldness of the letter. Are we studying God’s Word and leaving room for the Holy Spirit to minister to us each day?

Paul tells us the law was not made for the righteous man who is in love with the Lord, who walks close to God, who desires to please the Lord. It was made for the lawless, the disobedient, the ungodly. Those who don’t care about the Lord need the law laid upon them for their own protection. The law keeps the unrighteous from rampant sin AND IT DRIVES THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS to Jesus.

1 Timothy 1: 8-9 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane”…(the list continues) There are people in “church-ianity”,  in LEGALISM, who are caught up in the shadows, bound up, critical, and missing out on so much as they drive themselves and others around them crazy focusing on their list of “can & cant’s”, black & white, and putting the same heaviness on others… when the reality is JESUS CHRIST.

HE is our sabbath. HE is our rest. HE is the reality. HE is out TRUTH. HE is the answer. HIS LOVE will drive us to repentance.

When we look at the law, we must look at the heart of the Father and not get caught up in technicalities. When we read the Old Testament, we can ask “Lord, show me something about YOU and something practical for ME.”  May the Lord keep us from the depression and oppression and exhaustion that come from preoccupation with rules and regulations, obligations and stipulations…that we might know what it truly means to be FREE and married to Mr. Right (Jesus) who loves us unconditionally and will lead us day by day in JOY and LIBERTY, free from the bondage of sin AND the bondage of legalism!!

Love Wins. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

*Message paraphrased from Pastor Jon Courson's Bible Commentary