Filling Up the Law, Part 2
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh upon a woman [or man] to lust after her [or him] hath committed adultery with her [or him] already in his [or her] heart. Matt. 5:27, 28.
This is serious.
I remember the first time I came to grips with this passage. I was 19 years old and had been baptized from an agnostic background a few months before. There I was in a local store gawking at a woman while waiting for my wife. Of course, I wasn't just gawking; I was thinking the same sort of thoughts I had delighted in before I became a Christian.
Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks. The Holy Spirit spoke to my conscience loud and clear: "You can't do that. It is wrong to lust after a woman, to think the kind of thoughts you are doing." I didn't care much for the lesson. After all, I had been "innocently" enjoying myself, and then He had to break into my meditations. I felt like telling the Holy Spirit to take a hike.
In actuality I had begun to realize that sin was more than an act--that it was a mind-set. I had started to recognize the truth Jesus set forth when He taught that sin "proceeds from the heart" (Matt. 15:18, RSV). Jesus made the same point when He moved the meaning of the sixth commandment from killing to anger (Matt. 5:21, 22).
I had been quite comfortable before He did that. After all, I have never killed anyone. And in all probability I won't murder anyone in my entire life. That is a thought that makes me feel good. But it's better than that. Not only have I never murdered anyone; no one has ever accused me of such an act. I guess I am a pretty good guy, a person who at least has part of his act together.
But such self-righteousness shatters when I begin to read Jesus in His filling up the law. He tells me that I can't even be angry in the sense of a person who holds on to anger, refuses to let it die, and seeks revenge. Here Jesus hits me square. While I don't murder, I do become angry with some of the people with whom I have to deal.
I don't like this new theology. I am more comfortable with my own definitions. They make me feel good.
But Jesus' purpose isn't to make me feel good. It is to help me see the nature of sin and my great need of His forgiving and empowering grace.
Lord in heaven, help me to live in my life the full meaning of the law and not merely its outward shell.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh upon a woman [or man] to lust after her [or him] hath committed adultery with her [or him] already in his [or her] heart. Matt. 5:27, 28.
This is serious.
I remember the first time I came to grips with this passage. I was 19 years old and had been baptized from an agnostic background a few months before. There I was in a local store gawking at a woman while waiting for my wife. Of course, I wasn't just gawking; I was thinking the same sort of thoughts I had delighted in before I became a Christian.
Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks. The Holy Spirit spoke to my conscience loud and clear: "You can't do that. It is wrong to lust after a woman, to think the kind of thoughts you are doing." I didn't care much for the lesson. After all, I had been "innocently" enjoying myself, and then He had to break into my meditations. I felt like telling the Holy Spirit to take a hike.
In actuality I had begun to realize that sin was more than an act--that it was a mind-set. I had started to recognize the truth Jesus set forth when He taught that sin "proceeds from the heart" (Matt. 15:18, RSV). Jesus made the same point when He moved the meaning of the sixth commandment from killing to anger (Matt. 5:21, 22).
I had been quite comfortable before He did that. After all, I have never killed anyone. And in all probability I won't murder anyone in my entire life. That is a thought that makes me feel good. But it's better than that. Not only have I never murdered anyone; no one has ever accused me of such an act. I guess I am a pretty good guy, a person who at least has part of his act together.
But such self-righteousness shatters when I begin to read Jesus in His filling up the law. He tells me that I can't even be angry in the sense of a person who holds on to anger, refuses to let it die, and seeks revenge. Here Jesus hits me square. While I don't murder, I do become angry with some of the people with whom I have to deal.
I don't like this new theology. I am more comfortable with my own definitions. They make me feel good.
But Jesus' purpose isn't to make me feel good. It is to help me see the nature of sin and my great need of His forgiving and empowering grace.
Lord in heaven, help me to live in my life the full meaning of the law and not merely its outward shell.
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