At The Bottom Of Your List

[God] condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.   Romans 8:3-4, NIV

Jesus came to bring you into a new life so you can begin to fulfill the law of God. He died to bring you out of condemnation; he lives to lead you into a righteous life.

Some things get pushed to the bottom of my to-do list—things I don’t like and things I feel I can’t do. That’s our problem when it comes to the law of God: we don’t like it, and we can’t do it, so our instinct is to push it to the bottom of our list.

Jesus came to save you from that and to make you the person God always intended you to be. He does this by giving you a hunger and thirst for righteousness and the power of the Holy Spirit, so your life may move in the direction of God’s law.

I recall vacationing as a teen in Torquay, England. The accommodations were poor, and the beaches were crowded. At one point in the car ride home, I said, “Dad, I don’t ever want to go to that town again!” My mother pointed out this was the sort of thing a person might regret saying. Six years later, I met a girl from that town, fell in love with her, and married her. I’ve enjoyed going there ever since.

When God’s Spirit begins working in you, you may be a long way off from the law, but you’ll have a new hunger. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6, NIV). In other words, you’ve come to want what God wants for you.

Christ accepts us just as we are, but he never leaves us as we are. It is the purpose of God to make us righteous, so that we will reflect his glory in a life that fulfills the law of God. What do you know about this kind of life?

For further reading, see Romans 8