“Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can
make them stumble.”
Psalm 119:165
To love is to obey, at least when it comes to the standards
that God lays before us. The law spoken of is the Mosaic Law or the Ten
Commandments. Christ’s death fulfilled
the Law once for all time, therefore, we are not required to follow the
commandments as a means of salvation; however, the true believer will end up
living them out anyway as a result of godly living.
We
are not required to follow God, but
rather, the spirit within us feels compelled to do so out of voluntary
allegiance. That compulsion comes from
the Holy Spirit welling up within us and overflowing into all areas of our
lives. Living according to God’s word
will keep us from stumbling. We stumble
due to our own ignorance. We take our
eyes off the Lord thinking we can handle a certain situation without His input
and get tripped up as a result. It’s not
the end of the world. God will help us
up, dust us off and point us in the right direction once again. In a way it’s like teaching your child how to
ride a bike without training wheels for the first time.
God
isn’t a tyrant or dictator. We aren’t enslaved
to Him if we commit our lives to His plan for our lives. We are to voluntarily surrender our will over
to His control. Why on earth would we
ever do that? Because quite simply, He
created us and knows us better than we could ever know ourselves. He will never steer us in the wrong direction
and won’t play mind games with us either.
His plan is straightforward, fair, just and will bring to us the
greatest benefit and the peace we all long for.
Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
