Read Psalm 119:41-48 41Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; 42then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. 43And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules. 44I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, 45and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. 46I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, 47for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. 48I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.
In Christ, God’s steadfast love has come to us in all its fullness. God’s salvation resides in our hearts just as he promised HE would. The result? A delight and a love for the commandments of God.
It doesn’t seem natural to love commandments does it? In our natural state we resist commandments as a restraint on our freedom. But the true freedom that we find in our union with Christ takes us back willingly into the demands of God without fear of failure and condemnation, but with the delight of love.
When you read a command in the New Testament, an imperative from Christ or one of his apostles, do you cringe? Or can you say “Lord Jesus, I love this commandment? Thank you for showing me your life in the form of this freeing demand?”
To live is Christ allows us to see all of Christ’s commands as freedom, life, and love. Now we can love his commands as we love him, for they are no longer a ministry of death, but of life itself.
You: Do you cringe when you see commandments in the scripture?
You in Christ: How does union with Christ allow us to see God’s commands as freedom, life, and love?
Christ in you: Think through your relationship with Christ’s commands. What makes you resist them still? What can make you love and trust them?
Pray: Father, I confess that I don’t always love your commands. I definitely don’t always keep them. Help me to return to my first love for you as I contemplate your love for me. Amen.
To Live is Christ 