Day 27

“And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” — Ezekiel 36:27

A man in England was converted to Christ while in prison. He was serving a sentence for stealing and upon release, one of the first things he wanted to do was visit a church. He didn’t know which one, so he simply found one. On the first Sunday of his release, he sat in the pew, looked up to the front of the church and saw, written on the walls, the Ten Commandments. He told himself that was the last thing he wanted to see. He knew his failures and reading the Commandments would only condemn him. Nevertheless, he began reading and to his amazement, discovered them in an entirely new way.

When he’d read them before, they said things like, “You shall not steal!!” It was a command, but when he read them that morning it said, “You shall not steal” as a promise. Why? Because God has promised, “I will put my Spirit in you and I’ll move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” This man discovered the very things that had once been strict commands imposed upon him in stone, had now become liberating promises imparted to him by the Spirit.

The heart of the Gospel is not primarily about getting people out of hell and into heaven, but about getting God out of heaven and into people. The law is powerless to change anyone. It can demand what is right, but not produce what is right. But, what the law cannot do, God did by sending His Son; first as our substitute to pay the penalty for our sin and satisfy the justice of God, and then to give the gift of His resurrected life to indwell us, in order that “the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us” (Romans 8.4).

The law says you shall not kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, covet and you don’t. Not because you’re more disciplined than you used to be, but because the Spirit of God lives in you, and the righteous requirements of the law are fully met in those who do not live according to the flesh (i.e., their own ability), but according to the Spirit. What used to be commands become promises and the response to a command is not in doing our best to implement it, but to simply say, “Thank you, God. This is your business in me by the Holy Spirit.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, I have discovered that living in your Spirit is liberating and works to empower me. My flesh battles the Spirit everyday, and I am so conscious of the battle, but I thank you, Lord, for the wonderful way you are committed to my holiness.

To reflect upon: Before I came to Christ, how did I view the Ten Commandments? Did I find them unreasonable and impossible to keep? If so, how has that changed with Christ as my life?