When Being Good Isn't Good Enough: 21 Days of GraceSample

Law vs. Love 

Fourth, not only can we lose our freedom by focusing on results rather than relationship, on product rather than process, and on particulars rather than principles, but we can lose our freedom by focusing on law rather than on love. 

One of the most astounding statements Jesus ever made is found in the seventh chapter of Luke. Jesus is having dinner in the home of a religious leader when a prostitute breaks in on the party. She anoints Jesus and falls at His feet, washing them with her tears. The religious leaders are shocked and indignant. (Seems we are always shocked and indignant about something.) And then Jesus, rather than putting their minds at rest, shocks them even more: “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (vs. 47). 

I know what they thought. Matthew doesn’t tell us, but they probably protested, “But Jesus, don’t you understand that she is a prostitute? Don’t you realize that by accepting her and saying things like that, you are encouraging prostitution? Don’t you realize how she has broken the law? Don’t you recognize the danger of what you are doing?” 

The text doesn’t say this either, but I’m sure Jesus looked at the religious leaders with their peacock feathers flying in the breeze. He saw their arrogance and pride as they looked down their noses, and He said, “Shut up! Just shut up!” 

Are laws important? Of course, they are. But it’s a matter of focus. If I have time to tell people either how to be good or how to love Jesus, I don’t even question which to say. If they love Him and mess up everything else, it’s no great loss. If they don’t love Him and do everything else right, they can lose eternity. (By the way, you learn to love Him by allowing Him to love you. You can’t love until you have been loved, and then you can only love to the degree to which you have been loved. Love isn’t something you just “do,” because you can’t do it until you’ve got it. Love starts by just being still [it’s okay, God doesn’t need your help] and letting Him love you. We know that we are called to love others, but a lot of those others are twits. How do you love a twit? How can you show love to the unlovely? Let me tell you: You get the love from the source, and then you will have it to give away. That isn’t my idea. Check 1 John 3:16 and 4:10.)