Scripture

Romans 7:22-23 NLT

I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Consider

Loving God is not the same as loving God’s law. Like children in the care of a parent we love and trust, we may still resist the rules our parent assigns, even when we believe those rules are meant to protect and help us.

God gave us his law not to make us miserable but to expose the sin in our lives that makes us miserable. Without the law, Paul says, we would not know that we sin. We would not recognize how vulnerable we are, how easily tempted into foolish behaviors that cause trouble, hurt the people we care about, and trap us in regret. Having no sense of God’s holy measure, we could not know how hopelessly we fall short and how desperately we need God’s rescue.

God’s law exposes the darkest and ugliest aspects of ourselves, the parts we may try to hide yet secretly indulge. As Paul points out, we love God but we also love our selfish ways. Every Christian knows the dilemma of wanting to follow God but falling into bad decisions that only make our lives worse. Someone insults us, and instead of responding with compassion or forgiveness as Jesus would, we get defensive and hostile. We see our chance to get ahead at someone else’s expense, and we take it. We judge others, stir up conflict, gossip, cheat, and refuse to humble ourselves when we need forgiveness.

How can we love a law that bares our deplorable nature so unflinchingly?

The key to loving God’s law is in loving the One who gave us the law. Our love for God motivates us to face the painful truth about ourselves so we can change and mature into a likeness of Christ. We allow the law to convict us and the Spirit to reshape us, not because we fear eternal damnation but because we love God and desire God’s goodness and truth and beauty more than anything the world can offer.

In Matthew 22 Jesus reminds a wily Pharisee that we must love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. Only the Son has ever achieved this perfect love for God. Until we can love as perfectly, we will continue to struggle in the war of our two natures, often failing despite our faith. Thankfully, God in his mercy has already covered us with Christ’s righteousness, so we struggle not to achieve heaven but toward a love as perfect as the love we receive from God, evident in the law he gave us and fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Pray

Holy God, every day, in big and small ways, I face the struggle that Paul describes. Thank you for the unflinching truth of your law, which exposes my pretensions and every desire that leads me away from you. Grow in me a love for your law as I face the daily challenge of living out the goodness and mercy of your ways in my relationships.

Reflect

Matthew 22:37-38; Romans 7:7-12

Ponder

When has obedience to God’s law been a chore for me, and when has it been a delight? What makes the difference?