Thursday, January 24, 2019

Legal Limit

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Now, dear brothers and sisters—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living?  For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive.  But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.  So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man.  But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.  So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point:  You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ.  And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead.  As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.  When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.  But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power.  Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.  Romans 7:1-6(NLT)

Laws are systems (typically) of what you may not do.  The Ten Commandments in Exodus are mostly negative statements (i.e. thou shalt not), and legal, negative statements can only take you so far.  For instance, if the law says thou shalt not kill, does that mean I can beat my annoying little brother half to death and, as long as he’s still breathing, I’m still within the legal limit?  Many people think so; this is why we have so many laws on the books; people find a way to get around the law’s purpose, and you have to make a new one to clarify the old one. 
In ancient times the Pharisees, teachers of the law, took the basic ten commands, and in time had developed them into more than 600 commandments, proving there’s very little simplicity in legalism.  If one word will suffice, the legal mind will find a way to confuse it with a whole dictionary.  (Same thing for preachers!)
But the law of God was never intended to restrict; the law was intended to set a minimum standard to teach us what the wrong direction looks-like, so our human proclivity to go higher than minimums, would propel us in a better direction.  That direction being that I not only wouldn’t harm my brother, but begin to care for the little nuisance.
Paul points us to marriage, and how it is until death us do part.  Once the death occurs, the marriage is still remembered with fondness, but there is release so the still-living spouse can grieve, but move-on with living.  The Apostle uses this in an analogy of our marriage relationship with the laws of God.  Rather than bind us to an endless chain of legal decisions, properly understood, the commands of God were designed to show us where life and death part ways.  Once we find that sweet spot between legalism and license (to do what we want, rather than what we ought), there is a freedom to live which legalism can’t begin to conceive.
So…how does this shake-out where the rubber meets the road?  Consider this example.  As a husband, the law tells me I have certain responsibilities towards my wife.  Until she dies I have a responsibility to treat her fairly, by not beating her, not stealing what’s hers, and supporting the children of our union financially, as well as keeping the laws of not endangering their health.  Sounds like the romance of the ages, eh?  What kind of life is there in that kind of arrangement if I just stick to the minimums, the legal limits?
On the other hand, if I set the minimum legal limits aside as too low a standard, and consider myself dead to that kind of worthless husbandry, I will be free to place my wife at the top of my interest list.  In place of a business transaction, there is joy, laughter, and a bond of soul-friendship that will last a lifetime.  The world’s view of pre-nuptial agreements can’t compare with going beyond the letter of the law all the way to the Spirit of the Law!
For You Today
When you’ve met all the legal requirements to your parents, spouse, and children, are you satisfied?  If not, it’s because you get it, that there’s life in going beyond serving self…all the way to love, which will make you do strange and wonderful things!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com

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