(Original Post 2015)
On October 5, 2015 around 10:30 pm, under the cover of darkness, Oklahoma state employees removed the monument of the 10 commandments from the State capitol building grounds as ordered by a county judge. This action has caused an uproar in the Christian community. I wonder if the Christian community would be outraged to know that Christ, Himself, did the exact same thing two thousand years ago?
(Photo: Sue Ogrocki, AP)
Under the cover of darkness (God- imposed darkness in the middle of the day, no less), Jesus died on a roman cross forever removing the LAW as our means to find reconciliation with the Father. Yeah, I said it. JESUS fulfilled the LAW Himself and offered to you and me the reward for keeping the LAW. The "LAW" was fulfilled in Christ and those of us who are "in Christ" no longer are bound by something that has been fulfilled by He who indwells us.
God gave us the "law" to live under because in the garden man chose the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Knowing the difference between right and wrong and punishing wrong is the "law", or as we like to call it today - religion. If you are in Christ and He is in you then you are no longer under the law but have been given a NEW commandment - "I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."”(John 13:34-35) (emphasis added by me). Christ did NOT carve this command onto a tablet of granite and post it in our front yard for the world to see. He wrote it on our heart when He set us free from the law after we ate from the Tree of Life (Christ).
Most of my christian life I strove to keep the law out of a sense of trying to measure up to God's standards and ALWAYS failed miserably causing me to feel God was disappointed in me and my efforts to be holy. NEWS FLASH: I will never be 'good enough' to earn His love. Christ died for me while I was still in my sin - not after I got my act together (like I already have - huh?). He loved me at my worst and all He asks of me is to do the same for those around me - allow Him to love them at their worst - through me.
All that to say - if YOU want to live under the law trying to keep those ten commands in your life and failing (Jesus says if you break one command you have broken them ALL!) and then trying to force that law down the throats of the unsaved in this world so you can prove to them what miserable failures they are - go ahead. but know that you are not bringing them to Christ, you are rather driving them farther away. Maybe try something different for a change - try allowing Christ to express His love to them through you. That will require a daily trip to the cross for you (Matt 16:24). The lost will respond to love a lot faster than to being brow-beaten with ten commandments that we cannot even keep!
This is not a political problem we are experiencing in the U.S. - it is a heart problem and you cannot fix heart problems with the law.
