I received this WhatsApp from a friend:

I’m working through Get Up and Go. Last night I was reading Romans 3:21-31 and you clarified something for me. You see, I struggled a bit with how to reconcile the message of grace with the law and what role the law still plays. Now I understand it much better. I grew up with the law like a sword over my head. Thank you.

Why do people do it? Why do they hold the law of God like a sword above our heads? Is it because they’re afraid their kids will break free? Is it from ignorance or is it because the sword has been over their heads forever?

It’s so wrong. The law is not intended to chain you up. The law is not an instrument you can use to threaten or frighten people. I can just imagine an angry old man or woman with wire-rimmed glasses, waving a finger under my nose, collecting all the stories about what may happen to you if you dare to break one of these laws.

⁸Those laws are good when used as God intended (the Living Bible).

The opposite is also true: God’s law is not good if we don’t use it correctly.

Let’s put it in simple terms. A knife is good if you use it to cut a nice piece of meat, but in the hands of a murderer that knife is dangerous. A vehicle is good when it takes us from point A to point B, but extremely dangerous when a drunk driver gets behind the wheel.

The same law can free people or bind them in fear. If the law is used to punish people when they test the boundaries, people feel afraid, too afraid to step outside, because what if…

How should we use the law then today? Firstly, we should know that Jesus did not come to eliminate the law. After Jesus’ life on earth, God’s law is still in place and we have to obey it.

What Jesus did, was to take the punishment that we deserve for not always obeying the law for us. We could say that Jesus came to pull out the law’s sting. The sting, or the death that we deserve for our lawless lives, is no longer part of the game, because Jesus already died for it on the cross.

When punishment and the negative impact related to the law are no longer in play, fear disappears and love flows in. Jesus did say the love is the greatest command.

If the law of God is based on love, it provides assistance; it is a crutch we can lean on to get through life. Then it becomes a direction indicator and helper to prevent us from violating life boundaries and hurting ourselves.

The law wants to protect us against the hardship and hurt of the world. Actually, the law of God wants to set us free. The law wants to cut the locks and chains so that we can really enjoy life as God intended.

Scripture

1 Timothy 1:8-17

Reflection

How do you feel about the law?

What effect does the law have on your way of living?

Do you see the law as an asset or liability?

Prayer

Father, thank you for Your law. Thank you for it wanting to help rather than punish me. Your law is good. Please help me find joy in Your law. I ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.