reading the law of moses

when we read the law of moses, we are reading the compulsory prescriptions that Moses gave during the wilderness travel. These prescriptions/commandments were given under the full authority of God, so they carried amazing authority...

those of us who have put all of our trust in Jesus, who have partaken of the covenant of the cross--who are now adopted children, not just cowering slaves--we are not bound by the letter of these commandments.

go read all of Hebrews. Here is one scripture that pinpoints it for you. The Authoritative claim of the Mosaic/Levitical/Old Testament Law has been superceded by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who writes God's heart on ours... God's mind on ours...

So now, when we read what was commanded to them, we can look forward to that righteousness' MANFESTATION in us as a fruit of the Spirit of God who indwells us!

What? What's that? Oh. okay, let me say it this way: God had moses boss them around and hedge them in with rules. The rules were good. The people were bad. It didn't work.
So God has found a way to put His own goodness in people, commandments or no. It is by Forgiving us and coming to walk with us in a way that Scripture describes again and again...
This is the mystery that once was hidden! That Christ is with you, even IN you, working and speaking and teaching and forming that fruit in you which is from His very presence...
This is why 1 Cor. 6 calls our bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit and calls us to flee prostitues and sexual sins of passion.

The whole thing has changed. That which God was commanding into their ears, He is now speaking into our hearts... and as we give ourselves more deeply to Jesus, we find that He is really, truly THERE. He causes us to manifest the righteousness of God as an "accident" of His presence.

...as a consequence of His presence.

He displaces our sin.
He displaces our evil, self-and other-destructive desires.
He can literally change our hearts...
and our lives follow suit.

Now, here's the problem:
...lots of people actually prefer the commandment-way. It is so much less dependent on the ACTUAL working of the INVISIBLE Christ. It takes so much less risk, and when it seems to be working out, it provides us with that good, lucky righteous feeling. Pride. Pride. Pride. Pride.

The Lion's share of people prefer to carve oranges out of a tree to being an orange tree. we prefer to bring to God baskets of injection-molded fruit with realistic fragrance implants, to the actual dirty work of being rooted in Christ and waiting on Him, trusting that He will bring fruit in season.

We prefer to build UP, not dig down and lay foundation. matt 7? big storm? beachfronnt properties? yeah. hmm...

Well, as we are reading in the Law of Moses, just remember the promise that drips from the words of Jesus as he said in Matt. 5
"you have heard that it was said [insert moses here], but I (Jesus) tell you [insert something waaaay deeper and more impossible here]..."
...How is that dripping with promise? Because the impossibility of the true spiritual life that Jesus describes, coupled with His obvious willingness to take us up as His kids, shows the total universality of this opportunity...

That is:
if NONE of us can make it on our own effort, by Laws and rules,
then ANY OR ALL of us can be received by the One who relates to us in MERCY!

This makes Righteousness a matter of Mercy and Love of the Redeeming Creator toward us. When we do right from the work of the Spirit within us, we are filled with Joy. We even find ourselves laying down our lives for one another, to our surprise. We had ourselves pegged as a bunch of real ninnies, and here comes fruit from God to show How faithful He is!

Ps. 23 says he leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake--it's all about HIM.

John 14 says the path is a man with a name: Jesus.

So just love jesus while you breathe today. just breathe prayer that he change you and thank him for his mercy, and trust that He will do it. Relax about yourself and become gentle as you stop being so surprised at your failures. Delight in the fact that the Lord of Glory has loved you, and proven that love in the amazing atonement of the cross. Commit your life to that work of that One and stop worrying about what you can never control.

in a minute we'll all be with him. all that is unfinished will be made more than whole.