Driven by Love, Not Rules

Quin. A
6 days ago
6 min read

Towards the end of Colossians 2, Paul emphasized the fact that we are free in Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 reads: "Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality however, is found in Christ." Paul mentioned believers having a sense of false humility and an appearance of wisdom ... all of which have nothing to do with grace and faith in Christ.

Paul also advised the Colossians not to subject themselves to those who placed human commandments upon them. "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle." (Colossians 2:20-21)

Becoming a follower of Christ was a brand-new ideology for the Colossians so quite naturally, many of the former Jews often reverted back to the laws and practices of Judaism. And according to the Old Law, in order to be righteous, you had to keep the Law by not touching, tasting, or handling certain things.

However, under the New Covenant with Christ, we understand that we are only made righteous in God's eyes because of the sacrifice of Jesus. We are not righteous or holy by keeping the Law. The only way we can be righteous by keeping the Law is if we keep the entire Law perfectly.

For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)

Being that we are unable to keep the whole Law, we trust not in our ability to keep the Law to be right with God, but we trust that the blood of the Lamb will cause God's wrath to passover us, just as blood caused death to passover the Israelites in Egypt.

But ... aren't we still called to keep God's commandments? Of course we are. Jesus said in John 14:15, if you love me, keep my commandments and 1 John 2:3-4 says, "We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person."

So, then, what is Paul saying when he says we shouldn't subject ourselves to the ideology of "Do not taste, touch or handle". Because clearly, there are commandments about not committing fornication and adultery; hence, we cannot "touch" outside of the covenant of marriage.

This is a point of contention for many people because on one side of the the spectrum we have those who rely on their ability to keep God's commandments to make them right with God, which is impossible. But on the the other end, we have those who abuse grace so that they may continue to live in sin, which Paul also preached against in Romans 6:1.

So, what gives? Why are people who advocate for keeping God's commandments are sometimes accused of pushing legalism? We're supposed to keep God's commandments, so again, what gives?

Well, I think I will always and forever be a definition girly so by definition, look at what Legalism means:

LEGALISM

as defined by Cambridge English Dictionary

The practice of following the law very closely, especially by paying more attention to rules and details than to the intentions behind them.

" ... Paying more attention to the rules than to the intentions behind them." My, my, Cambridge what an awesome definition. Yes, we are called to keep God's commandments. But what's your intention in keeping the commandments?

If we are keeping the rules in hopes that doing so makes us righteous, then we have fallen into a works-based salvation instead of accepting that salvation was freely given to us by faith. So then, if you keep God's commandments, why do you do it?

We ought to keep God's commandments not because we are driven by rules, but because we are driven by love. Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. We keep the commandments because we love God, not because we're following a set of rules.

If my husband took me on a date because he felt obligated to do it and not out of love, well honestly, I probably wouldn't want to go out with him anymore. I'd like him to date me out of love, not out of keeping marriage "rules".

On the job, I previously followed the rules because I was obligated to, but as a parent, I follow the unspoken "rules" of caring for my children because I love them. There's a big difference between following God's rules out of love and following them out of legalism.

Now, it's completely understandable if we have followed rules simply because we were told to do so. We've been taught to follow rules since we were children. But if we are honest, we didn't follow the rules because we dearly loved our parents and teachers. We did it because we were told to do it. We did it because we loved ourselves and we had self-preservation in mind. We kept the rules because we didn't want to get in trouble and we definitely wanted our parents to spare the rod!

So, naturally, many of us have adopted this framework of thinking into our relationship with Christ. Many of us follow the rules or commands of God out of self-love or self-preservation. In other words, we keep the commandments, not because we love God, but because we don't want to go to hell. Or we keep the commandments simply because God said so. But Christ told us to keep the commandments, not out of self love, not out of legalism or obligation, not just because He told you so, but because you love Him.

Someone once asked, "Do you want to go to heaven just so you can be in paradise? Or do you want to go to heaven because you can finally see and be with Christ, the Love of your Life?

Of course, we all want to see that beautiful city. And ain't nothing wrong with that. But our greatest longing shouldn't really be about heaven... It should be about Christ. Heaven is icing on top of the cake, but Jesus is the main event.

To know Christ is to love Him, and we know and love Him by keeping His commandments. And we keep these commandments, not out of legalism, not because we're trying to keep a set of rules, or to avoid eternal damnation, but we do it out of love. But if after self-examination, we see that we have kept God's commandments out of legalism, self-preservation, or any other reason, God can help us.

The artist, Music Soulchild, sang a song entitled "Teach Me" years ago. The lyrics admitted that he didn't know how to love his lady correctly but he was willing to be corrected. The fact that he was willing to be corrected and had a desire to be taught how to love correctly, made the song that much more sweet and beautiful.

Likewise, if we have not kept the commandments out of love for the Lord ... if we have loved Him out of obligation or self-preservation ... but we have a desire to love Him correctly, then I'm sure God will find our desire as sweet and melodic as that love song. So, if we do not currently keep His commandments out of love for Him, may God teach us how to do so.

May everything we do for the Lord be driven by love, not legalism, obligation, self-preservation, or anything else. Just love. Just pure love. Join me in a brief prayer:

Father, we thank you for grace and faith in You through your Son, Jesus Christ. We accept this gift of salvation and desire to keep your commandments from a place of pure love. If we have kept Your commandments for any other reason than love for You, forgive us.

Forgive us and teach us how to obey you from a place of love, not obligation, legalism, self-preservation, or any other fleshly reason. God, You deserve to be loved correctly and to be obeyed from hearts full of love for You. Help us to be Your chosen people who love You and obey You from a place of sincerity. In Jesus name, Amen.