“…therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10
A husband and wife didn’t really love each other. The man was very demanding, so much so that he prepared a list of rules and regulations for his wife to follow. He insisted that she read them over every day and obey them to the letter. Among other things, his do’s and don’ts indicated such details as what time she had to get up in the morning, when breakfast should be served, and how the housework should be done. After several long, miserable years the husband died.
As time passed, the woman fell in love with another man. Soon they were married. This husband did everything he could to make his new wife happy and continually showered her with tokens of his appreciation. One day when she was cleaning house, she found, tucked away in a drawer, the list of commands her first husband had drawn up for her. As she looked it over, it dawned on her that even though her present husband hadn’t given her any kind of list, she was doing everything her first husband’s list required anyway. She realized she was so devoted to this man that her deepest desire was to please him out of love, not obligation. (sermonillustrations.com)
Two Spiritual Mindsets:
1.) Following the dead letter of the law: The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had the law of God broken down into 613 commandments, 365 negative (one for each day of the year), and 248 positive (one for each bone in the body). Imagine the heavy burden of trying to remember this list every moment. We have a hard enough time remembering milk and eggs on the way home from work! The Pharisees relationship to God was exactly like the first marriage in our story.
2.) The Spirit of the law: The Spirit of the Law is just loving God and naturally obeying him.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” (I John 5:3)
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
Spiritual Temperature Test:
- I have been asking myself the “do I have to?” question about the following: read my Bible, pray, go to church, witness… you fill in the spiritual duty blank.
- I should be saying, “I get to read my Bible. I get to pray. I get to tell someone about Jesus. I get to…”
Spiritual Challenge:
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.(Revelation 2:4)
The Ephesian church was told by Christ to go back to where they left their first love.
“Lord, help me to go back to where I was passionate and excited about you, pleasing you, knowing you, and serving you!”
Great message!
You’d think more Christians would be o the “I get to” side than the “I have to” – but it seems its actually the other way round!