A Difference Between Law and Love....

We follow Christ obediently because we desire to do so, not solely because we have to. Christian living is fundamentally different from living religiously. While some are satisfied with the leverage of a law, a requirement, a commandment to force compliance with biblical obligations, mature Christian love is informed by the Word and inspired by the Spirit of Grace. Typically, higher motivations mark Christians who truly live in grace and love unto the Lord Jesus. A fear of punishment is superseded by a passion for Christ!
Our obligations to the Law of Moses ended with placing our faith in the sacrificial and representative death of Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:13-14; Col. 2:14). His death terminated the commanding authority of the Law over Believers; thus, freeing us to enter a faith relationship with Christ upon His resurrection (Rom. 7:1-6). Paul, the apostle, emphasized this saying, “But now we are delivered from the law…that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (Rom. 7:6). The governing authority of the Law was broken through the death of Christ. It is our grand privilege to daily live in a new relationship to God through the resurrected Christ; we are free to serve in the newness of the Spirit, strength of grace, and energy of godly love.

This faith-relationship is designed to be fruitful, productive, exerting a positive influence, and issuing into righteous activities of eternal significance (Rom. 6:22; 7:4). Fruit is the natural product of a married couple; having a family is quite natural. Likewise for believers in Christ Jesus, our relationship with him should bear fruit. Such fruit bearing is supernatural. No longer enslaved to sinful practices and pursuits, but now serving and living in the beauty of real holiness. Christian vocation is a delightful outpouring of our entire being energized by the Spirit to honor God and help our fellowman. Thus, our lives are guided by a definite identity, catapulted by the highest motives, filled with substantial meaning, and infused with the grandest purpose.

We do not serve Jehovah God in human energy, according to the letter, inundated with horrors, consistent with the warp wisdom of our time, and out of a dreaded sense of obligation. We refuse to reduce our faith to slavishly subscribing and adhering to humanly engineered rules or cleverly devised schemes of religionists. Sadly for some, Christianity is nothing more than adhering to a list of dos and don'ts. Empty religion is an absolutely poor substitute for a relationship with the Most High God. While we do have strong conviction, possess clear perceptions of right and wrong, and are inclined to select the best over the good; we realize with certainty our Faith is not merely a list! No, the principles we live by must be anchored in Almighty God, Jesus Christ, the Spirit of grace, and the bedrock of God’s eternal Truth. We obey God because we love Him and yearn to please Him at the very core of our being. His Truth is written in our very souls (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 10:16, 17) by His indwelling Spirit! Life with God is far more than compliance with a religious list. 

In fact, we freely exert ourselves for God in ways we would not even dream of doing for any other. Because of God's active grace in our lives, we are motivated to do more, go farther, give more, sacrifice more often, endanger ourselves, dismiss our rights, stay longer, and even be taken for granted. Love and grace as our primary motives do not engender a lazy and apathetic response to our beloved Christ; no, real love and grace energizes us to do more! Such devotion is stimulated by agape-love and appreciation for Jehovah God who first loved us. Our Father sacrificed His only Son for our sins in order that we may also become children of God (John 3). Such sacrificial godlike love begets more of the same! What God has sown, He will reap in abundance; it is the Law of the Harvest!

As believers in Christ Jesus, we must understand the differences between law and love, guilt and grace, human energy and the Spirit's power, and obligation verses desire. Many believers attempt to function by a combination of law and love, but we must remember what Paul, the apostle said. In Romans 7:6, he said, “But now we are delivered from the law….” Through faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, Believers end their relationship to the Law of Moses and enter a faith-relationship of grace with Jesus Christ. We now have zero obligations to the Law of Moses. Christ satisfied the Law of Moses requirements in full; therefore, we are free. Not free to do whatever we want, but free to become ALL God intended and designed us to become in Christ our Lord (Eph. 2:5-10). Thus, we are free to become slaves to our new loving Master Jesus! How free we are when we are absolutely enslaved to His glorious Person and will from our heart of hearts! We serve with passion, power, and purpose when we are motivated by a holy love for our Lord. 

Though our obedience is imperfect, and our service is trifling compared to what our Lord actually deserves, yet we gladly invest ourselves out of love for Him. Oh, for the grace to become more in Him that we may accomplish more for His glory! This is the sincerest prayer of the truly devoted heart. God would have us filled with a potent desire to honor, glorify, praise, worship, serve, and sacrifice for Him. It is from the position of wanting and desiring to please Him and not merely from a sense of obligation. Certainly it is not primarily from a fear of punishment that we follow our Lord obediently, but we have been moved and inspired deep within by His Spirit of Grace. We do not serve in an effort to impress God with how capable we are in hopes of earning enlarged favor with Him; we allow His favor in our lives to advance us to our fullest potential in Christ because this glorifies Him. Beloved, we know that God first loved us, therefore we love Him in response. Not only because we have a command to love the Lord with all our being, but the truest desire of our entire being longs for God like no other. Our spiritual passion is for HIM! This is no doubt inspired by the Spirit of the living God applying the Word of God to our souls. God desires for His children to cherish relationship with Him, and when we do reverence, adoration, thanksgiving, devotion, obedience and service are the fruit. 

Think about it.... What wife would be happy with a husband who merely feels a legal obligation to her? What about actions stemming from a love for her? Why would God be pleased with Believers who primarily live for Him because they feel they have to? Why would God be satisfied with a relationship with His children of compliance with a few choice behavioral codes, religious-feeling rituals, empty meaningless ceremonies, and a few standards of moral conduct? Every time these type things are emphasized you will find religious pride, self-righteousness, harshness, shame, hypocrisy, frustration and a tendency towards petty sectarianism. These things militate against grace! In the meantime genuinely sharing life with God is lost. Christ came and died that we might have real life abundantly in the true and living God! Christ is the enduring expression of the love of God towards us, and Christ is to be our love response to God in return. Beloved, there really is a difference between mere religion and a relationship. I said there is a difference between law and love.