For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. The show that the work of the law is written on their hearts… Romans 2.14, 15

“Self-actualization” is these days an item of concern for many people.

The US Army exhorts us to “Be all that you can be.” Sammy Davis Jr’s soaring “I gotta be me” is echoed by U2’s “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Films, literature, and television programs provide many examples of people who are trying to get in touch with themselves, to discover who they really are, what’s inside them trying to get out. This is a very human activity, of course. We know of no animals that fret and fuss and carry on about getting in touch with their hearts.

Many people – perhaps most people – feel that they won’t really be free, won’t be liberated to live the life they really desire, until they discover who they are inside, what they’re made of in their hearts. If they could just find what they’re looking for, then they could be all they’re meant to be.

But this does seem to be an elusive objective. Psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as drug companies, make a handsome living trying to help people through the confusion of life so that they can get in touch with their inner persons. But it doesn’t have to be that big a struggle. The problem is that too many people are not really interested in knowing what’s in their hearts; they’re interested in having in their hearts, as well as in their lives, whatever it is they think will make them happy.

But what people think will make them happy is not necessarily the same as what is actually in their hearts.

And here, as we shall see, is yet another way in which the Law of God shows itself to be the law of liberty to which James refers in his epistle.

The psalmist says that the righteous person meditates day and night in God’s Law (Ps. 1). Would like to get started in this discipline? Order a copy of The Ground for Christian Ethics and The Law of God. The first will explain the importance3 of God’s Law, and guide you in taking up the practice of daily reading and meditation. The second provides all the statutes, precepts, and rules of God’s Law organized under their proper number of the Ten Commandments