December 28, 2014 1 Timothy 1:8. Just Come....As You Are

1 Timothy 1:8

We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.

The law.  A list of dos and don'ts.  Mandates. Rules and regulations.

In this world, we look upon them as a giant chasm between us and God.  Added with satan's lies which quickly point out that the list is far to long and hefty, we know that we will never get to the other side...each rule separating us from whom our very soul yearns.  We look at our current lives against the backdrop of the law and we are quickly discouraged at the distance we must cover.  

We look at ourselves compared to those that are seemingly able to keep the law.  There they go with their perfect marriages, perfect children, lives and jobs.  They must have something that we don't have.  They had parents that loved and supported them.  They had the perfect schooling and friends...grew up on the right side of town and sit in the right pew at church.  They live blessed and easy lives that encourage them to follow the law.  Yes?

Or maybe we try.  We try to follow the law and do make some progress.  We attend church long enough for the ushers to greet us by name and the pastor to recognize our face.  Maybe we even commit to serve, hoping this will help our chasm to shorten.  We stop watching questionable movies and partaking of things in excess and we feel our chests swell as we look back and see what we have done....only to look ahead and see that the chasm is just as wide and deep as it was before.  We are no closer than we were when we started and no one has even noticed.  Not one single person.  So...we stop.  Discouraged and betrayed, we stop.

The law was never meant to be a chasm between us and God that we scale alone.  It was meant to be a journey that we walk with Him...step by step.  The moment when we look at that chasm and say, "No way can I do this alone but God, I trust You and You alone to walk me through this." ....is the moment when we realize that it is all about Him and not us.  It is all about Him and not the law.  

We at that moment will not seek to obey the law out of necessity but rather out of love and desire to be in His presence.  We find that the laws are no longer a prison of dos and don'ts but rather freedom from the trappings of this world....freedom that we will only find in Christ.

As this year ends and another begins, seek Him above all things.  As the old hymn says... "Come just as you are".  Come.  He awaits. The world will try to ravel this to be the greatest mystery of all....and, yet, this, above all things, is what we have been created for... This is your destiny.