Law of Love

Romans 7
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Romans 7:19


LET IT GLOW

As a child, I obeyed my parents out of love, wanting to please them, not out of fear. Although I knew what the consequences were if I didn't. So it should be with our Lord. We obey His laws, or strive to, because we love Him, not because we fear what could happen if we don't obey.

Jerry Falwell, in Liberty Bible Commentary, tells us this:

The function of the law is to reveal what sin truly is. Sin is the violation of God's law.
The purpose of our being free from the law and married to another, the risen Lord, is that we may produce fruit unto God. The fruit is a righteous life characterized by those "good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
Having been justified by faith, we're now set free from that which held us in bondage. We serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. The holy law of God is not an external code of  "do's" and "don'ts."
Rather it is a law of love written on our hearts. We do not obey that law because we fear the Lord, but because we love Him. Now in our marriage to Christ, we seek to be all that we can be and to do for Him all that we can do to please Him and demonstrate our love for Him.


LET IT GROW

In verse 18, Paul admits that in himself there is not the ability to do good. He wills (wishes) to do good, but sin has dominion over him. Sin is his master, his lord, his king. By himself he cannot break it. He is a defeated Christian when he is controlled by sin. It's the sin-principle in him, unyielded flesh occupying the Lord's temple. (May I add, so am I.)

Paul admits to us in verse 19 that the good he wants or wishes to do, he doesn't do it and the evil which he doesn't want to do, that's what he ends up doing. It's like letting angry words come out of my mouth. I don't want them to, but they still come out. For some reason, I can't grab those words and put them back into my mouth, to be unheard.

There's a constant warfare between the old sinful nature and our delight in the law of God. This will happen for as long as we live. I can't seem to go one day without sinning.

 "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" says Paul in verse 24.
He's in a helpless state and can't rid himself of his bent toward sinning. If Paul is to live a mature and godly life, and to delight in the law of God after the inward man, the strength to do so must come from outside himself. Only Jesus Christ can enable us to live a sanctified life.
To live a sanctified life we must know well what Christ has accomplished for us in our justification, daily reckon that we have died with Him and are alive unto righteousness, and yield ourselves completely to Him
(from Falwell's Liberty Bible Commentary)

As I write this, it came to me that I can put my name in place of Paul's: "O wretched Linda, that I am! Who shall deliver me? Linda, in you dwelleth no good thing." Jesus Christ is the only answer.


LET IT GO

Strive to obey God's laws, even though I sin. Thank the Lord for His forgiveness, grace and mercy.
Keep loving Jesus.