THOUGHT: Rules, Control, Independece and Other Biohazards

So here's a question that I know you have been asking yourself all day long.
Ready?

Why did God come up with the 10 Commandments? (The originals and not the movie).

Perhaps, it would be a helpful list to carry in my pocket?
Perhaps, it would mess with me and see how naughty I really like to be?
Perhaps, it is a set of rules that God expected humans to obey in order to not make God mad?
Perhaps, it is a set of rules that God provided to define how to live righteously?

Now, if that was true how many people do you think have lived righteously over the centuries?

Not many, if people have always been sort of like me.

Actually, only one succeeded--Jesus. He not only obeyed the letter of the law but fulfilled the spirit of it completely. But understand this, to do that Jesus had to rest fully, dependently and perpetually on the Holy Spirit.

So why did God give us the gift of the 10 Commandments?

What if God wanted to us to give up trying to be righteous on our own? They were just a mirror to reveal just how filthy our faces get when we live independently.

But, are there not people, many people who think that they are made righteous by following the rules?

I guess there are; but can you clean your face with the same mirror that shows how dirty you are? There is no mercy or grace in rules, not even for one mistake. That's why Jesus fulfilled all of it for us--so that it no longer has jurisdiction over us. And the Law that once contained impossible demands--Thou Shalt NOT...--actually becomes a promise that the Holy Spirit fulfills in you, transforming you.

But keep in mind that if you live your life alone and independently, the promise is empty. Jesus laid the demand of the law to rest; it no longer has any power to accuse or command. Jesus is both the promise and its fulfillment.

Does that mean that I don't have to follow the rules?

Yes. In Jesus you are not under the law. All things are lawful.

What? Seriously? Are you messing with me?

Those who are afraid of freedom are those who cannot trust the Holy Spirit to live in them. Trying to keep the law is actually a declaration of independence, a way of keeping control.

Is that why we like the law so much--to give us control?

Relax...It is much worse than that. It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in its more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainty out of uncertainty. And contrary to popular belief, God has a great fondness for uncertainty. Rules cannot bring freedom; they only have the power to accuse.

with thanks again to Wm Paul Young

g-ram