Snippet: The God Who Love Us Enough to Guide Us

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Sarah Yardley, commenting on Psalm 119:165-168 which expresses love for God’s law:

“In a book called The Fault in Our Stars, John Green writes: ‘Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.’ …the Psalmist writes here about the great peace and freedom we can find when we know and love the instruction of God. True freedom calls me to true obedience. In freedom, I am invited to follow the God who loves me enough to make all of his ways known to me.”

I heard this on the Lectio 365 devotional the same day I read an article by Justin Giboney citing a Netflix documentary on a 1980’s commune that went bad after trying to build a utopian city “by deconstructing the social norms and religious strictures that in their view suppress one’s true self.”

“When the commune received political pushback from other residents in the area, they became anything but compassionate. In the name of free love and self-expression, they attempted murder and committed fraud and bioterrorism to get their way. They also abused each other and exploited the homeless. Their attempt to completely rid themselves of all constraints left them defenseless against their own internal evils.”*

God’s ways should matter to Christians.

Throwing off biblically based “constraints” denies our own internal evil.

Repentance and faith and living in God’s grace is needed every day, not a new commitment to living under the law (as we’ve been seeing over the last few weeks in Romans 6:1–8:17).

Loving God and his commands, and seeking his help to live “in Christ” and “in the Spirit” is the way of Christ.

What does that look like?

It looks like what a growing relationship of love looks like.

That’s not as concrete as the alternatives of following the law or throwing off constraints to be free and be me. But it’s what we’re called to be and do.

*”Christian Virtue Strengthens the Social Justice Cause: Liberation from injustice starts with obedience to God and his moral order” by Justin Giboney, Christianity Today.

Photo by Debbie Molle on Unsplash