Good Morning!
As I grew from a child I experienced many people who were glad to enforce their rules on me. As a kid living in Kansas City, Missouri I remember a man in the church who thought it was his God-given duty to thump us, boys, on the head...from behind...when he thought we were not acting according to his rules. It would hurt and he was being too authoritarian and rude. I hated it!
Also, in that same church, there was a lady who taught my Sunday School class. My father had shown me the way to put my Faith in Jesus as my Savior. But, this lady thought that she would play the role of the Holy Spirit in my life by telling me what I needed to do. She told me that other children were not getting saved because I would not go forward during an invitation and announce my Faith publicly and be baptized. I felt that decision was between God and me and NOT her and me. Three years later and one thousand miles away from that lady I made my decision to follow Christ public and was baptized.
I have always looked down on people who thought they were God's agents to impose their laws on others. Many of the self-righteous people doing such herding of people into their law-abiding ways tick me off. My relationship with Jesus Christ is NOT based on laws but rather Faith. Also, it is personal. It is a personal decision that must be made by each person individually.
Now I have come to realize that my attitude was not off base from what God's Word teaches. The law has a way of making people sound and act self-righteous. Many of the proclaimers of the law are willing to put people into a box and have a desire for us to be just like them. But...we are justified through Faith...not the law.
Read what Paul says in Galatians 3:10-14...
"For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written:
'Cursed is everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law.'
Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by Faith.
But the law is not based on Faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written:
'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'
the purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus,
so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith."
The law has a significant place in the lives of believers. The law does not replace what Jesus has done on the cross. It was the law that was given as a reason for crucifying Jesus. When we have a Faith in Jesus that secures our salvation we then live by the law. We choose right over wrong. We trust God daily with the responsibility to live right in Him.
Think about it. Salvation is a gift that God has given to us so we can live abundant lives here, on earth, and eternal lives in heaven and the law is God's gift to us to live righteous lives until we get to heaven. It's God's law...not your law. I realize that when someone attempts to tell us about living right that it is not always someone thumping you on the head to make you obey their legalistic ways. Sometimes it is God teaching us to not veer to the right or the left from God's will for our lives. Helping someone to keep their eyes focused on Jesus is good. Just keep it loving and gentle. The "thump on the head" and "do it my way or the highway" mentality doesn't work. Without Faith...the law is a curse!
Remember, the Faith of Abraham has come to the Gentiles...to you and me. Why? So that we can receive the promise of the Spirit...through Faith!
Live in the Spirit of God today and enjoy His Spirit in YOU!
May God Bless You!
Don Betts
DBEA/campus320
DBEAWINNING.COM
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!