¹ And God spoke all these words:
² ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
³ ‘You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:1-3

These were the opening words of a section of the Bible commonly known as the 10 Commandments. These also formed the core of what is called The Law. Here we have God spelling out his perfect standard for how we are to live our lives. Some of the commandments are about how to love and honour God and to put him first above all else. The second half is about how to love one another and to live peacefully together. A summary of the law is “Love God, love one another”. But when you drill down to the detail of the law, you find a standard that is impossible to live up to. You find rules, regulations, guidelines that require one to live a perfect life. How are we ever going to do that?

Galatians 3:23-25 says this of the law: ²³ Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

That’s wonderful news. Even the law, tough as it is to obey was pointing to Jesus and giving us hope that One was coming, the only One who could ever live up to the requirements of the law, and who would allow us, through faith in him to fulfil the requirements of the law and to be pleasing to God.

Today, my challenging question to you is this: are you trying to live your life according to rules and regulations? Do you beat yourself up over what you should do and shouldn’t? Do you carry guilt and/or shame over things you have done or have failed to do? Or are you rather trusting in Jesus and his finished work on the cross to give you righteousness and to help you grow in maturity and become more and more like him? That’s what it’s about. Faith in Jesus. Proclaim and commit/recommit your faith and trust in him today!

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