The Law of Liberty (21)

Readers will gain a better perspective on the main teaching of this series by reading The Ground for Christian Ethics, by T. M. 

Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Psalm 119.33

Over the more than 40 years that I’ve been a Christian, a good many “fads” and “movements” have wafted in and out of the household of faith. At one time ecstatic spiritual gifts were all the rage; you had to have these if you were really and truly saved. Then there was a big push for “friendship evangelism”, which followed a big push for confrontational evangelism – going door-to-door, taking surveys, beach and mall outreaches, and so forth. “Serendipity” found its way into the Church at some point, even though I never really understood what that meant. And today we’re all about “contemporary” worship, emergent churches, and renewal. Wait long enough, though, and like the weather in Northern Virginia, things will change.

Is this our destiny to the end of history? To be a people prone to fickle fads, who can’t settle into anything for the long haul, but need always to have our fancy renewed by the “latest” thing? We’re like flotsam and jetsam on an ever-shifting ocean – going nowhere, contributing nothing, but glad to be still afloat.

The Law of God is unchanging and forever. God calls us to keep the way of His statutes all the way to the end of our lives and the end of history itself. The Law of God does not change; it is not subject to our approval or disapproval. God has given it to us for our good and His glory, and Jesus expects us to make it the centerpiece of our Kingdom lives (Matt. 5.17-19).

These days Christians have trouble believing that the Law of God is a source of freedom. That may be due, at least in part, to the fact that many believers have never given themselves to serious, long-term study and obedience of the Law of God. There’s no time like the present to begin. Cry out with the psalmist for God to teach you His Law, really teach you, so that your mind, heart, and conscience are liberated, and you see the new practices God offers you as the way of escape through Satan’s every snare – learn the Law like this, and you will want to learn it more, and to live in its freedom forever.

Daily meditation in the Law of God helps us along the path of holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Rom. 7.12). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers.