The Law of Liberty (33)

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God… Romans 14.17, 18

Over the years I have met many sincere Christians who spend a good deal of their time wondering about whether or not their lives are pleasing to God. I always ask them, “Well, do you have faith in God?” “Oh, yes,” they reply; but it gives them little comfort when I remind them that faith is the starting-point for being pleasing to God (Heb. 11.6). Implicitly they know there must be something more. Typically, they can only think of something heroically sacrificial or way beyond what they will ever to be able to perform. And so they spend their joyless lives fretting before the God Who loves them.

Paul says that the life of righteousness is pleasing to God, and here is where the Law of God can set us free from the fear that we might be failing or disappointing the Lord. The Law of God is holy and righteous and good, as Paul explains (Rom. 7.12). Thus, if we train our hearts to seek the Law, our minds to understand it, our consciences to prefer it, and our lives to live it out, we can have every assurance that the Spirit of God is clothing us with the righteousness of Jesus, and, thus, that we are pleasing to God.

However, if we neglect the Law of God – either by failing to meditate in it or by refusing to walk in its light as Jesus did (1 Jn. 2.1-6) – we have little reason to believe that anything about our lives is pleasing to the Lord. In fact, even their prayers are an abomination to the Lord who refuse to give proper attention to the Law of God (Prov. 28.9).

This doesn’t mean we have to be perfect in God’s Law to be able to know that we are finding favor with Him. Rather, seeking, studying, and striving to apply God’s Law are, in themselves, sufficient to free us from the fear of God’s disfavor and liberate us into the peace and joy of His Spirit.

Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, and The Ground for Christian Ethics, by T. M.