Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Violating the Spirit of the Law”. A great title for this week. Yes, we can do everything according to the “blueprint”, but be violating the spirit of it. Obviously, the spirit, the intent, the motive is everything with God. The act, apart from the true spirit of it, is of little value. But the act does hold some value. We disparage “works”. And they should be disparaged as a means of obtaining the righteousness we seek. But our “works” are valuable for one thing.
So much of Christianity focuses on “belief’. What we believe. But we forget what this “belief” really is. It is not a mere philosophy or some mental assent. True “belief” is action. “Belief” that changes you and motivates you to action. “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). This is the “belief” God is talking about. But this kind of “belief” is only possible if you know the “One” you believe. Really, intimately know our God. And this is where “works” comes in. Not as a means of becoming righteous but as a means of getting to know Him who is Righteous. Works for the sake of gaining righteousness is like going to school and studying in order to get a good job. It misses the mark, misses the very reason for going to school. You go to school and study in order to learn. But if you learn, it will lead you to have a good job based on your learned knowledge.
And so with our spiritual “works”. “Works” (or doing what God says) not to become righteous… but to come into intimate contact with Him who is righteous. And this intimate contact will lead us to value righteousness and our righteous God, if we will. Righteousness is not found by pursuing righteousness but in believing (true active believing) in Him who is Righteous. Obedience, following His wise leading is the way we get to know Him and walk with Him, follow Him, come to love Him, come to know Him… and then to commit ourselves to Him. This unreserved commitment is the relationship God seeks. For in it He is able to impart to us Himself. All that He longs to give us. But cannot until we commit.
Once we commit, God working in and through us leads us to the “spirit of the law”. To teach us and to lead us to value and seek this love that is the fulfilling of the law… love that is the “spirit of the law”. As stated above, obedience without the spirit does have some value. In fact, much of what God wishes to teach us cannot even be understood until we obey what we do see. Once we put ourselves to the task, then we can begin to see more and still more.
This is what God wants for each. To not just do what we are told. It is admirable as a starting point. But He wants so much more than that. He wants us to love His principles of love. And these principles of love come about only by being intimately connected with Him. This connection is so vital, that the SDA Dictionary defines righteousness as “a right relationship with God”. That is what righteousness is. And this right relationship can only come about as we get to know Him. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). And obedience is a vital part of knowing Him, along with Bible study and prayer.
Let us use every means to get to know our loving Father. We want to have the “spirit of the Law” and not just the letter.
With brotherly love,
Jim