Only Love Changes. Romans 6, 7, 8 Explained
/Pre-Law, Before the Commandments:
We sinned but we didn't realize it. There was no clear margin for men on what was right and wrong, and after the fall of man, apart from God, our hearts became corrupt. We just didn't know it, or at least couldn't delineate or identify the boundaries or right and wrong. We developed the bad habits, the lifestyle of sin.
A lot like babies or toddlers in the stage where everyone thinks 'naughty' is cute, before we start correcting them. "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." -- Walter Scott. Even if it's not intentional.
Law, the Commandments:
If you are Jewish, include 613 laws to govern implementation of these 10 commandments. Once we see the law, we see where we've been going wrong. The Law itself is right, holy, in perfect alignment with the righteousness of God - thus revealing that we were not.
Ever tried changing your diet? You've never wanted fries, chocolate cake or ice cream, as much as when you decide that you can't have it. Now, if it's so hard with an intrinsic decision, imagine now how impossible that is when it comes from a God you've forgotten or have grown distant from.
Some may say here we are akin to teenagers, but I'd say we're like prepubescents. Suddenly, no one's smiling when they say "don't do that". Now things that were fine before are met with brute verbal force (or your Trini grandmother gives you "ah ha'd slap") and glares that could kill, and you have no idea why. 'Things are far more serious than we thought!' We realize we've been deceived!
Source: http://donotdepart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/1280X960-Ro-8_38-39.jpg
Jesus Christ, the Law Fulfilled:
No matter what, the wage of sin is death. We were deceived, but "ignorance of the law is no excuse" with God either. The debt for sin had to be paid. Even if we gave our lives, we couldn't afford to pay that debt.
God, being sovereign and good, seeking reconciliation with mankind, whom He made for love, for relationship, had a painful answer. Being a God of His Word, however, (ha ha ha. cheesy pun intended), He can't be unjust and just say "okay, okay, let's start over". To honor the law, someone had to pay. Someone in perfect opposition to sin. That was Jesus Christ. Christ, whom God poured out His wrath and judgment on by forsaking him, paid for all sin through time and space, so that God could be reconciled to us for Love and relationship.
This reconciliation is a process. You are still that prepubescent if you're a Christian, and still a baby/toddler if you don't know Christ. A mature Christian is one whose very heart, desires, have been transformed to the likeness of Christ... by His Love. The teenager, therefore, where most of us are, is the Christian who is being transformed - the one who is battling and repenting daily to surrender every area of his/her heart to God.
The teenager striving for his/her place in the world, once they know how, goes to God for desires to be changed, and for the strength to walk it out. What seems like rebellion to "adults" is that battle. Will you encourage or manipulate? If God Himself tries to ensure that we come for Love, of our own volition, shouldn't we do the same - for each other? We are all, very much, teenagers. Pray for God's will.
Only in Love Changes Us:
You cannot give what you do not have. If you do not know the transformative Love of God in Christ, then guilt, shame, condemnation haunt you as you strive in your own strength (not leaning on God) to correct your actions. Or, as the weight of sin, death, becomes too great, you drown it out. You drift away on the distractions life offers, missing out on the peace and liberation that truth, in Love, brings.
Romans 8 ends with Paul talking about the all-consuming, unconditional nature of God's Love. Do you know that Love? Or do you weigh God's Love by circumstances within a fallen world?
Being human, note that this is what was revealed when I read these chapters of God's Word. He may speak to you differently.
Where are you, today? Here, read it yourself:
: http://mobile.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6-8&version=ESV
