Why Did God Give Us the Law?
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When we first come to faith, the hope we have in Jesus bubbles up and overflows from us. The flood of emotion and relief released by the grace of the Lord rushes in like a tidal wave in our lives and creates a flood of change in us! Though we are obviously a new creation, there is clearly a lot for us to learn on the journey throughout life with Jesus.
Over the course of our lives, life within the love of the Lord Jesus becomes more obvious. There are certain character traits of God which become obvious to us, and changes in our lives which become obvious to others. The challenge is to remain in the obvious state of child-like faith in the Lord, with an obvious hunger to learn and grow in our daily walk with Him. It’s a process called sanctification, which describes the Holy Spirit’s work in us from the time we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior until the day we meet Him home in heaven.
“The ultimate purpose of the law,” NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible explains, “was to highlight sin, not to provide a means to become righteous before God.” As we grow in our faith, there will be things which are seemingly obvious for a season, but there is always a tendency for us to fall back into old habits, repeat mistakes, and become stuck in a cycle of sin. No matter where we are in our walk with Jesus, His command to have faith like a child applies.
A daily discipline of reading God’s Word is important to the development of our faith. Otherwise, our prayer lives can become like an unanswered text or a one-sided conversation. Though God surely hears and answers us, if we aren’t tuned in to listen to Him, we may not be able to understand or see His directives on our lives. Walking out into the world without the Word of the Lord is like trying to cross the street blind-folded; we are unprepared, and unaware.
Scripture tells us God communicates with us mainly through His Word – the Bible. He can make Himself known to us any way He chooses, through nature and other people – but He chooses to reveal Himself the most through His Word.
Jesus is the Living Word of God. We have the opportunity, each day, to live life to the fullest, as He died so that we could. We can choose to see life through a better perspective and operate our days for something more than just this life here on earth. God’s laws were meant to be guardrails for our lives, not legalistic measuring sticks. The law exposes us for what we are – sinners, every one of us. It reveals our need for God, and draws us closer to Him.
Our lives were meant to bring glory and honor to God. Every parent knows the pain of a child’s mistake suffered because they didn’t listen to warning or follow the guidelines their parents set in place. How much more does the Lord love us, and want what is best for us? His plans for us are more than we can ask for, or image. Look in the mirror at the unique, beautiful and purposed person you are – it’s obvious!
Additional Resource:
NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible. Copyright © 2021 by Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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