“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.”
Galatians 5:13-15 NLT
The law is not the problem. The problem is us. When living under the law, we were shown that we want to sin and that this is an inescapable truth. But we were also shown that Christ overcomes sin. He did this by living in submission to his Father’s will. This idea of submission was bigger than submissive actions, it was about submitting desires and challenging his own desires to live under faith of his Father’s agency and love for him. This is why the Pharisees disliked him so much, because their love of the law didn’t produce a righteous heart. Following Christ is following his heart for his Father’s will and affections and disdains. When Christians emphasize the law without keeping it subject to the heart of God, they miss the trees for the forest. They don’t see the beauty in the small nuances of God’s prime creation, people. This lack of perspective mixed with the hubris of the Pharisees is the literal opposite of who Christ is. We should celebrate the law, but focused on its purpose, not it’s mechanisms. The law never produced a righteous individual. It only produced sinners in need of Jesus. Our practice should be on loving one another as Christ loved us. Then we will keep God’s heart as he sanctifies us through the work of his Spirit by the power of his son on the cross of Calvary.
JOSH McGARY. COM 