DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL
OF JOHN
LIVING FREE
OR DIE
John 5:45-47
45
"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is
Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe
me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how
are you going to believe what I say?"
NIV
The old
saying, “If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword” comes from what
Jesus has just finished telling those Jews who were looking for a way to kill
him. They were trying to live under the Law of Moses, which of course in hind
sight, we know was only to prove man could not live by the law, so man needs a
Savior, Jesus. They were convinced God had given them the Law through Moses in
order to find salvation through the successful accomplishment of that Law and
they tried very hard to do just that, as well as impose the Law and all their interpretations
of it upon the rest of the people of Israel. But we know, because God explained
it perfectly through Paul’s letter to the Galatians, once we did live under the
Law but Christ has freed us from the Law. Why than should we place ourselves under
the burden of the Law again? Yet like those Jews, many believers live under the
rules and regulations that denominations have set up as acceptable and unacceptable
beliefs and behaviors, which of course are evidence of denominationalism,
rather than freedom in Christ, because of all the differences in those beliefs
and behaviors. Why do we put ourselves under that yoke of denominational
bondage? Why do we put ourselves under that yoke of rules and regulations set
forth by various interpretations of the scriptures? That is the basis of the
whole principle God lays out for all of us through Paul in that letter. Once we
have been set free, why become slaves again? If we try to abide by every aspect
of the Law, we will be judged by that Law, rather than by our faith in Christ.
If we have faith in Christ, why then do we try to live by the Law? True, we
should not go about living in sin, doing whatever we please. True, we should
endeavor to live according to the principles laid out in scripture, yet Jesus himself
said the greatest commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our heart,
soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we live
according to the law of love, we will live by faith, and we will live a life worthy
of being called Christians and called children of God. Whatever else there is,
it will cease, but love covers all wrongs, love builds up, it never fails. The
greatest all things is faith, hope and love and the greatest of those three is
love. Yes, we believe all that Moses wrote, and we believe he wrote about Jesus
who shows us the true meaning of love. Let us not burden ourselves with the
yoke of church, with denominationalism, with all the rules and regulations, as
good as all they are, as we should not be opposed of gathering ourselves together
for worship, but let us live in the freedom of love.
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