Tuesday, February 6, 2018

The Law of Life - Part 2

Here is another brief analogy describing the true character of the law of God and the gospel of righteousness and their relationship to each other.

Remember the gospel is that the Remedy/Antidote or Cure has been delivered to every human being that has ever lived (on the authority of Christ, to whom all authority has been given). Now consider the following: the Remedy makes repairs to one's DNA that assist in returning deteriorated breathing patterns to normal healthy depth and rhythm. Those changes in the DNA? That's the law of God, a transcript of His character, being written in your heart! Now, suppose someone comes along before your breathing has been returned to normal and tells you, "You MUST breath normally if you want to live abundantly!" Will you be able to do it? No, not through force of your own will and physical effort. But suppose someone comes along at that same time in your life and says, "Be patient friend, the Remedy is working in you to restore your breathing to its right state. Trust in the Remedy, and pray that his work will progress rapidly in you! And refrain from doing that which you know will damage your breathing! And while trusting in the Remedy to work in you, continue to do your best to breath deeply, calmly, and steadily." Can you do that? Yes! Even in your broken state, you can do that much! However, in both of these situations, how is it that the breathing can be/is returned to normal/the law is kept by the person? Does the person accomplish it? Or does God accomplish it in the person (allowing them to choose to cooperate with what is being done in them or destroy His patient work in them)?

Now consider it this way: the Remedy has been working in a person, and, though His work is not yet completed in the person, the person's breathing has returned to normal. Does anyone have to tell such a person that they must breath normally in order to live abundantly? Hardly! In fact, if anything threatens that person's breathing, that person will strenuously resist its influence and fight against it as if their very life depended on it, because it actually does! This is what it looks like when the law of God is written on the heart. If you are aware of the fact that certain laws of God are not written on your heart, or are only very lightly written (not deeply engraved), do not fret. Plead for Him to write more, focus on refraining from erasing what He has written, and always recognize that it is He who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. Study His Word, for it is an engraving Tool like no other! Talk with Him every day through prayer (the breath of the soul). Private prayer, family prayer, and silent prayer as you go through your work day. Listen to His still small voice, telling you which is the way to walk in. In this way, the Law of the Lord will become more and more a delight to you! 

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them."


2 comments:

  1. Now that's a different way of looking at it indeed. If this is true then I guess God has done what needs to be done and we just need to go with it...sort of not get in the way of what he has already done. Thant's surely not the "Christianity" I grew up knowing. That one was full of judgement, shame and fear and certainly the power within me (i.e. Christ) to breath normally was no where to be found. Thank you for that picture.

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    1. Thanks for your comment! Many of us grew up with an experience similar to the one you describe, myself included. We were, essentially, living under, and trying to keep our part of, the Old Covenant." We were trying to write the law on our own hearts. We can't do that. Only He can write Himself into our hearts! We sure can do a lot of erasing of what He writes, if we are careless or purposefully turn aside from the path. But only He can engrave His Truth and Life into our hearts. Notice this passage: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Ezekiel 36.26-27 Notice He says "I will...I will...I will." Because He knows we can't! What a loving God we serve! It is He that transforms our hearts. It is He that makes us to walk in His statutes! Of course, He does not make us robots, or take away our free will/moral agency. And sadly, many will turn away from the path He sets their feet on. But none of those who continue on that path should be under any delusions regarding Who is bringing about the changes in them. "But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." John 3.21 May we agree and cooperate with Him as His work is wrought in us! Godspeed my friend.

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