So many things in life become more and more complicated as one immerses oneself in the complexity of design and function. But in the development of morality it is quite the opposite. We start off life as a child. (That was profound.) For a child the world is full of dos and don’ts. There are hundreds of them for the child to learn if they are to stay safe and please the giants in their lives. But something wonderful happens as we mature. Most of those rules and regulations cease to have any meaning because we have come to understand our world. No longer does the rule not to touch the hot stove exist. We know better. We need no rule. We become freer and independent. We are governed by intellect and knowledge.
Soon we understand there are really only Ten Commandments and once understood they encompass everything else. Then Jesus tells us there are only two and finally we come to grasp the marvelous truth that the way we love God is by loving other people and we are then down to one. Jesus tells us when we do it to the least of them we have done it to Him.
Thus we come to Galatians 5. Freedom in Christ is Paul’s great theme. How difficult it must have been for one who described himself to be a Pharisee of Pharisees to free himself and step into a whole new morality. How grand to grasp the truth that all laws were nailed to the cross of Jesus and God doesn’t have a Santa Claus list that He is checking twice to see if we are naughty or nice. Instead we become temples of the Holy Spirit that lovingly lives out its life within us and by thus we automatically keep the rules without thought. Oh, the glory of such freedom.
Written by Roger Bothwell on April 14, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org