Do YOU Long for the Law?
I have on occasion been called legalistic, a pharisee, and even a heretic. I am not; being one who is passionate about the law of the Lord, striving to live a holy lifestyle, and having an expectation that others who claim to be followers of Christ to live according to his WORD does not a legalistic pharisee or heretic make. If you are a Christian, do you love the law of God? Do you long for the law of God? Do you want his governance or your own, or even the governance of the world? These are things to think upon and evaluate.
I want to share this short devotion on the matter………………
Longing for God’s Law
by R.C. SproulA survey by George Gallup Jr. revealed a startling trend in our culture. According to Gallup, the evidence seems to indicate that there are no clear behavioral patterns that distinguish Christians from non-Christians in our society. We all seem to be marching to the same drummer, looking to the shifting standards of contemporary culture for the basis of what is acceptable conduct. What everybody else is doing seems to be our only ethical norm.This pattern can emerge only in a society or a church wherein the law of God is eclipsed. The very word law seems to have an unpleasant ring to it in our evangelical circles.
Let’s try an experiment. Read the passages from Psalm 119 that accompany this devotion. Try to crawl into the skin of the writer and experience empathy. Try to feel what he felt when he wrote these lines thousands of years ago.
Does this sound like a modern Christian? Do we hear people talk about longing passionately for the law of God? Do we hear our friends expressing joy and delight in God’s commandments?
Coram Deo: Do you long passionately for God’s law? Do you express joy and delight in His commandments?
Psalm 119:97: “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”
Psalm 119:11-12: “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes!”
Psalm 119:131: “I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Your commandments.”
It is one thing to say we love the word of the Lord but if our lives trend after that of the world our words mean nothing. This evaluation of our life and our longing for the law of God can indeed wane. Sadly enough, I have often found myself saying I love the law of the Lord but finding that my life at the time was not displaying that statement to be true. I must repent and pray for that passionate longing to return! I must be obedient to seek after God, & his word, & his truth.
I want to end this post with one of my favorite hymns. It is one many have not heard and many would cringe when trying to sing. BUT it is one that I love because it reminds me to long for and to love the law of God.
I have posted this hymn on my blog before but I want to share it once again.
Most Perfect is the Law of God
From Psalm 19:7-11 and Psalm 119:97Most perfect is the law of God, Restoring those that stray;
His testimony is most sure, Proclaiming wisdom’s way.O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.The precepts of the Lord are right; With joy they fill the heart;
The Lord’s commandments all are pure, And clearest light impart.O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.The fear of God is undefiled And ever shall endure;
The statutes of the Lord are truth And righteousness most pure.O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.They warn from ways of wickedness Displeasing to the Lord,
And in the keeping of his Word There is a great reward.O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
Tags: Christianity, Conviction, culture, law, Pondering, Sproul, worship Posted in Christianity, Conservative, Conviction, Pondering, Saturday Psalm and Praise, hope, worship
September 5th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Ahh… this was WONDERFUL! thank you for writing this and sharing these thoughts! how true… so very true!
hugs!
September 5th, 2009 at 7:32 am
I see your point. I have come to understand that if I choose to live by the letter, then I miss out on the relationship with Christ. When we truly walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So when my life seems off track a bit, I engage myself in my relationship with Christ.He is the center of it all. If I am in love with our Lord, that is what is pleasing to Him. I can live by the letter all I want, but that in itself is not what makes Him happy. Only being in Christ makes God happy, thru faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. So, no I do not long for the Law, I long for Christ.
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September 5th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I do not think that striving to be obedient to the law of Christ causes one to miss out on their relationship with Christ, I find it strengthens mine! It indeed is impossible to please God without faith. I do not and in fact cannot obey the law without faith. You are correct, when we truly walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I do not seek to live a holy life for the sake of salvation or to flee condemnation but I do so because of my love and my relationship with my Lord. We cannot truly love the Lord if we are not living in a way that is in obedience to his word (or at least in faith and surrender attempting to do so). I have seen many who laud their relationship with the Lord yet care so very little for his word and his desires (& even demands) upon our lives. This is not true love for the Lord. I love the Lord and therefore I also love his word & his law.
1 John 5:1-4
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. And his commandments are not burdensome.
—Gotta go to ballet–which saves you the rest of my comment. *grin*
September 5th, 2009 at 11:35 am
To me the opposite of following the Law is lawlessness. For many are deceived into thinking that if they follow the laws that the modern church deem correct, they are fine. Who is it that can rightly divide the Law of God? Does God change? Do His laws change? And yet today so many “children of God” are finding themselves without God’s blessings – for God blesses those who keep His laws. How many Christians today do you know of who have been involved in fornication or adultery? If we don’t obey the whole law, it is difficult to draw that line as to what to obey. Okay, I’ll get off my soap box. I’m with you here.
September 5th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Kristine, I can so relate to what your are saying. We, too, have been called “legalistic, a pharisee, and even a heretic” by those who do not want to follow what the Scriptures tell us to obey.
We always have to remember that this is just what the Pharisees did to Yeshua-Jesus in his days. He was the heretic, and today, much of what he tells us we are to do in following the Father’s commands is labeled legalism.
As Carol said, the Laws of Yehovah (which are called the teachings, or his Torah and are not a “Jewish thing”, but a “Believer’s thing”), are the plumb line given to us to follow. If this is not the plumb line, then what is? My opinion? Yours? The president’s?
I choose, as you have in your hymn, to reiterate the words of King David, who walked in the grace and teachings of the Father, the prophets, and what Yeshua walked in himself: “O how love I thy law! O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”
What is wonderful is that we can follow His commands and fulfill the law of Christ and walk in the Spirit. Because the “Law” is summed up to be God’s love, it is full of the Spirit, for that is one of the fruit we live as we walk in Him.
Thanks for this gentle and sweet post, Kristine. Truly “Most Perfect is the Law of God”.
blessings~
Jacque´s last blog ..SPP: Sorrow into Joy, Frustration to Peace
September 5th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Just as an additional comment, after reading through all of the previous, it is sad that Believers separate God’s laws from Jesus. To please him, we must give glory to, follow and live by the Laws of God as Jesus himself did.
That is the only way he will be pleased with us. We cannot separate the two.
Jesus-Yeshua said that the Pharisees did not know he was Messiah, because they did not know the Father. If you do not know the commandments of Yehovah God, and love his Laws, which are the essence of who he is and the love letter to his chosen people, Israel, then you cannot know him either.
If we do not know the Father, this is in no way pleasing to the Messiah. The two are one, as Yeshua and Yehovah are one – as HE said so. He walked in the commandments and loved the Laws of his Father. He taught us how to live in them, and continually fought against what the Pharisees added as man-made laws.
It is sad that this false teaching is being spread to the people who seek to know the Messiah and the Father as grace and truth. THIS is, as Carol said, lawlessness – “Without the Law”.
The words of Scripture, as the words of the hymn you posted, are true.
In Him~
Jacque´s last blog ..SPP: Sorrow into Joy, Frustration to Peace
September 5th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
[...] are welcome to read the hymn posted at Kristine’s blog, MamaArcher’s Blog: Do YOU Long for the Law?, which was the inspiration for this [...]