The Bondage and The Freedom
I have often pondered the will of God for me, and/or for my life. I pondered whether there is a specific will, as in buy that house, marry that woman, take that job, or if God’s will is more general … wherever you live, whomever you marry, whatever you do, live in this way. Perhaps both are true, each in a given context.
Then each of us needs to consider our ability or inability to walk in that will, to live out God’s plan on God’s path. Can we even do that? Can I live up to “God’s will” for my life? I believe the answer is “no,” but “yes.”
The Bondage
The Law as given through Moses has 613 commandments. That overwhelming list does not even account for all the pharisaic add-ons through so-called hedge laws and traditions. But what if we boil it down to just one short list of requirements?
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?
– Deuteronomy 10:12-13, ESV
Granted, this was spoken to Israel, but the concept is multi-repeated by Jesus to his disciples, so I believe it applies. But which of us can live up to that? Which of us can claim we love and serve the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul, without wavering, without fail?
Yet, the people of Israel unhesitatingly agreed to adhere to God’s standard. Jesus characterized this love as the greatest commandment, the commandment on which all other commandments rely.1
I once asked the question of an audience, “Who here loves the Lord their God with all their heart and all their soul and all their strength. I asked, expecting that no one in the room would raise their hand, yet one woman did. Knowing her, I know she loves the Lord deeply, but that’s not the standard. The standard is “all.”
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
– Ecclesiastes 12:13, ESV
Fear God? Sure, but keep his commandments? Which of us can honestly claim to do so? James tells us, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”2 Or, what of this very popular verse? It is a simple statement of the call on our lives.
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
– Micah 6:8, ESV
Could it be presented any more simply than that? And is it really that straightforward? And how does this simplicity line up against the reality that “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”3
With all this depressing reality hitting us in the face, how can we ever hope to stand righteous before a holy God? Who is even close to being adequate for that task?
There is one man.
The Freedom
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
– 1 Peter 2:22-26, ESV
What we are incapable of doing, Jesus did for us. Where sin enslaved us, we are set free in Christ!4
So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed
– John 8:36, ESV
If you are in Christ, a very important “if,” then you are set free from the bondage of the “law of sin and death”5 for there is no condemnation…none…for those who are in Christ Jesus.6
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
– Romans 6:22, ESV
Though none of us can live up to what is required of us, every one of us can give our allegiance, faith, and trust to the one man who already did, the man Jesus Christ!
1. Matthew 22:34-40
2. James 2:10, ESV
3. Ecclesiastes 7:20, ESV
4. Galatians 5:1
5. Romans 8:2
6. Romans 8:1
