Monday, September 30, 2019
672 - List-less Love
Spirituality Column #672
October 1, 2019
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
List-less Love
By Bob Walters
“You diligently study
the scriptures because you think that by them you have eternal life; and it is
they that bear witness about me." – Jesus to the Jews, John 5:39
The context
of this verse is just after Jesus has healed the man at the Bethesda pool on
the Sabbath – “Do you want to be healed?”
Jesus asked – the Jews challenge Jesus about “working” on the Sabbath.
The Law
says this, but Jesus does that …
The Law says
obey, but Jesus shows mercy …
The Law says “or else!” but
Jesus asks “Do you want to be healed?” …
The Law
demands a day, but Jesus reveals eternity …
The Law
provides God’s list, but Jesus provides God’s love.
Divine love
and the work of Jesus Christ will never fully reveal themselves in a list of
anything, and the love we have for each other can never be reduced to a moral
standard, a code of ethics, a calendar of events, a roster of duties, a record
of behavior, or a list of chores. The
biggest and most joy-sapping mistake a professing Christian can make, I
believe, is to confuse obedience to Jewish law with the New Covenant of faith
in Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches us to
think like Christians, not like Jews.
Why?
The Law limits; Jesus frees.
The Law is fearsome; Jesus is the
author of joy.
Our intent
here is to be helpful and hopefully healing to a couple of common, joy-sapping,
focus-on-my-sin Christian postures. The
first is, “What do I have to do to be saved?” (Give me a list.) The second is, “Have I done enough?” (Review
my list.)
You may have dozens of faith
questions to list. Satan’s favorite, I
can imagine, is “How do I know _____?” (fill in the blank). It is an error to think that we will find and
know love in a list of anything, including the scriptures. God alone authors love.
Love, you see, is a mystery of God
fully revealed to the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We are “saved” because of God’s love and by
the person of Jesus Christ, not the list of things He did. His teaching and all of scripture is critical
to our understanding, but love itself emanates from God and the person of Jesus
Christ.
Why does that matter? Because humans are easily led to worship the
wrong things. I’ve heard famous pastors
preach, “The Bible is sufficient!” No
it’s not – the Bible is incredibly important but only Jesus is
“sufficient.” Any of us could write a
long list of why we love this or that person, place, or institution in our
lives, but the list itself is still just a list. Even the most important and heartfelt writing
on any topic – say, wedding vows, church liturgies, prayers, nation-forming
documents (the U.S. Constitution, for example) – are words and expressions, not
the action and commitment of love.
The great commandments of Jesus are
to love God and love others, and sure, a list of intentions, promises,
do-overs, and make-goods may help steer the ship to avoid the rocks. But the list will never actually be the ship;
the list won’t heal, the list won’t save, the list won’t restore, the list
won’t forgive, and the list won’t bestow eternal life.
Only God’s love can do all that,
and our human hearts are joined to that love through the grace, obedience, and
example of Jesus Christ. Believe it and
trust it.
Study scripture and bear
witness? Absolutely! Just … love more than you list.
Walters
(rlwcom@aol.com) realizes ships can list, nobody’s faith
should be listless, and 1 Corinthians 13 lists many of love’s characteristics.
But love isn’t a list.
0 comments:
Post a Comment