The Law, Fulfilled!

The Law, Fulfilled!

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Galatians 5:14 KJV

Context and Charge:

The law came at the point when Israel was on its way to Canaan. God wanted rules of engagement for his people, so they would know His expectations and demands from them. Rules were laid out, covering all layers of human behaviour and interaction, as well as with non-living things. These rules were a lot to demand from sinful man, and it was not funny or surprising that centuries later, God's view was that no man could be fully justified by following the rules under the law to the letter. 

A new engagement was needed, under a different covenant. The law only judged actions, and even if your intentions were ignoble, as long as you did all the things the law required, and in the way required, you were fine under the law. This surely was not God's perfect intention, and a new way had to be found to make imperfect man perfect before a perfect God. The law came from God, so the solution to the limitations of the law also had to come from God. What better way was there, than the nature of God himself, which is love. 

Conviction and Conclusion:

The way of love has birthed new rules of engagement for man. Actually, love was mentioned under the law, but it was hard for fallen man to walk in God's kind of love without the help of the God of love. The law only focused on what I could do to earn approval, and had no provision for what I could do to hold God's heart. Only love could do all these. Love would give me a heart that appreciates all that God has given and promised, and then it will also supply daily help for me to walk perfect before God. 

The law and love are of and from God, so the help required to keep God's law and to love comes from God. Efforts and labour would only apply when God is in control of the heart. To love my neighbour requires me to know this God, and to know what He demands from me. The love of God will help me keep the law of God, so that I do not steal or kill, and at the same time, I do not harbour any kind of hatred, bitterness, anger or malice in me. The question then is: do I have this God living in me? He is the only one who can birth and sustain what is required to fulfil his law. God's time of favour is here.