Re: Day of Praise

You're right!  When the letter of the law wrongly trumps the Spirit of the law, then the law kills. But when the Spirit of the law is at work through the letter, then the law is good and drives us closer to Christ! Christ alone and the Gospel alone save us from sin and for a new life, but the law, being God's Word too, is supposed to serve the good purpose of driving us closer to the Christ who saves. 

Chris

On Feb 2, 2017, at 5:31 AM, Julie Hudzik <jhudzik@charter.net> wrote:

I got stuck on this one a bit this morning.  I always think of the law as the rules, the legalities of religion, not the love.  It's not that the law is bad, but it can be very cold without the love that should go along with it.

Julie

On Feb 2, 2017, at 12:29 AM, Chris DeGreen <pastorchrisdegreen@gmail.com> wrote:

Thur, 02/02/17, "Day of Praise"

"And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good." - Romans 7:16

Have you ever done what you "do not want to do"? (Romans 7:16a)

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to do better than last time. Whatever it was, I wanted to do better next time. But somehow, I regularly wind up doing again what I "do not want to do."

God knows this about me. God knows this about you. That's why God gave us the law. 

Because I way too often do what I do not want to do, "I agree that the law is good." (Romans 7:16b) Thank you God for giving us the law. 

There's a lot that I could say about the law being good. But let me just tell you a couple things that the law does well. 

First, it shows me what I could've done better, ya know like, love my God, love my wife, love my kids, love my mom, love my in-laws, love my neighbors, love my enemies. The law shows me I could love all of them better. And it shows me in what ways I could love all of them better. So the law is good because it shows me what I could do better and how I can do it better. 

And second, the law shows me how blessed I am. Let's take, say, my in-laws. I mean, we're talking about the law being good so we might as well talk about the in-laws being good. 

So let me tell y'all; I have the best in-laws. Daddy Bruce and Pam. Sister Kat and Will and sweet niece, Marley. Mama Martha. Sister (aunt) Beth. Aunt Sue and her clan. Aunt Becky and her clan. See, they don't really have to love me except that the law tells them that they have to because I married Amanda. So by way of Amanda and me being married, they're in-laws. 

But sometimes, "I do what I do not want to do." (Romans 7:16a) Sometimes I don't show my in-laws the love like I should because, well, I act like me, instead of acting like I should, ya know, I should act like Jesus. But I don't. I act like me. And in return, they, well, they don't act like me. Instead they act like Jesus, loving me for the stinker that I am, not because they have to, but because they love me. In other words, the law sets a standard, and then my in-laws go waaaaaaaaaay past the standard. The law says the in-laws have to love me. But the in-laws don't love me because they have to; they love me because they're awesome. So the law helps me to see how crazy blessed I am because my in-laws love me way more than the law tells them they need to. I'm telling y'all. I have the best in-laws. 

So there ya go! The in-laws are great! And the law is good!

Because a lot of times "I do what I do not want to do." (Romans 7:16a)

Spread the love, Friends! Spread the love!

Praise God!

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