“You
shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your
neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance
or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor
as yourself; I am The Lord.” Leviticus 19:17-18 NRSV
Before
Jesus defined our “neighbor” by raising the bar substantially to include anyone
in distress whom we are in a position to help (Luke 10:25-37), Moses had
decreed to the people of Israel that each person is responsible for, and
accountable to, the other according to what The Lord had revealed to him.
That is, while there is certainly a personal component to our relationship with
The Lord, that relationship falls flat if we do not allow our love for The Lord
to manifest itself outwardly. Indeed, “He who says, ‘I know Him’
and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him”
(1 John 2:4).
So
how are we to answer the contemporary notion that the Commandments of The Lord
have no meaning for New Testament or “saved” Christians? How is being
obedient and faithful to the One who “is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins” (1 John 1:9) somehow being “legalistic”? How can
we say turning a blind eye to the despair many experience is ok as long as
we’re “personally saved”? “We deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us” (1 John 1:8).
When
we question the usefulness of The Law, we question the very Word itself which
was manifested in Christ Himself. And when we dismiss the usefulness of
The Law in our daily living, we dismiss the doctrinal and covenantal reality
that we are Christ in the world today; the Living Word in all its glory and in
the full Light of Christ in a world filled with darkness!
We
must not worry ourselves about whether we “have to” do this or that.
Rather we must acknowledge this certain reality: the Word means nothing if that
Word is left in the Book itself. The Word is not a list of things we must
do or “shalt not” do; the Word is who we become when we are baptized into the
Covenant and strive toward perfection, becoming sanctified in the Word. “Each
person is imbued with the divine spirit of The Word; the words we speak and the
actions we undertake are all manifestations of the Word, commandments in
motion” (Dr. Eitan Fishbane).
“Do
not be deceived; The Lord is not mocked. Whatever one sows, that will one
reap”
(Galatians 6:7) … and the Word we are entrusted with becomes, by our own
actions or lack of faithfulness, meaningless … not only to ourselves but also
to those we are called to bless and to bear witness to.
We
have a lot of living to do between now and the time of our death; so let us
live fully and faithfully! Not in the darkness of despair and the lies we
create for ourselves, but in the full Light of Christ who beckons us to live
fully and faithfully! For He is the Law and the prophets fulfilled – so
must we be.
Blessings,
Michael
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