LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

“Who’s side are you on?”

It seems like that is the question that defines the year 2020. Everyone is being pressured to take sides. “What is your political affiliation? Who will you vote for? What do you think about the virus? Should schools re-open? Should we overthrow the government? Do we even need to obey the law anymore?”

One huge problem I see is that people are taking extreme positions on the issues of the day. The pendulum rests in its outermost positions, with very little tolerance for anyone in between. “Destroy everything” or “Preserve everything” seem to be the only valid positions to hold. And we will defend our right to our position until we die, or someone else does.

But it gets worse. When an element of spiritual superiority is added to the position, then all hell breaks loose – literally. That’s what was happening in Jesus’ time, and it continues today. Religious leaders take up positions, impose rules, enforce consequences for disobedience, and seek to control people’s lives, all under the guise of spiritual formation.

Jesus came to destroy such a corrupt spiritual system. He would do that, not by destroying the law, but rather by transforming the heart. Jesus came to fulfill the law by giving us the proper motivation for obeying it – love.

Remember the thought provoking challenge from yesterday?

The law of doing good always carries more authority than any other law.

That’s what fulfilling the law of God is all about. When Jesus transforms our hearts, we move from the corrupted law of doing good for self to the Christ-like law of doing good for others. Loving others, serving others, doing good for others is always the fulfillment of God’s law.

The man who was healed understood this. When he was questioned by the religious authorities for carrying his bedmat on the Sabbath, he acknowledged that he saw a higher law than theirs.

John 5:11  But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.”

My prayer for my life (and I hope yours is similar) is that I would be known for doing good, rather than for how well I obey the law. May my life be defined as Jesus was in Acts 10:38^. 

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

You see, when we are motivated by doing good, we will be fulfilling God’s law, even when it may have the appearance of human disobedience.

Pastor John