This is a variation on the "Fixed and Moving" theme.
"Are we the-e-e-re yet?"
That's what we children always asked when on a long trip in the car. Of course, this constant "Are we the-e-e-re yet?" drove my parents crazy! "Stop! Enough! We'll be there when get there, so no more are-we-there-yet!"
Ten minutes later: "Are we the-e-ere yet?"
Parent: "I said not to ask that anymore!"
Child: "Yeah, but that was a long ti-i-ime ago-o-o-o!"
One day, after one of my siblings had yet again posed the eternal question "Are we there yet?", I, being the oldest and, of course, considering myself quite clever, announced, "We will never be there!" In answer to the predictable why's and what-do-you-mean's, I elucidated: "We'll never be there because no matter where we are we're always 'here'! So even when we get there, we'll say, 'We're here!' And that's why we'll never be 'there', only 'here'!" And I felt very smart and wise as only an 11-year-old boy can.
And now I want to ask you: Are you there yet? Have you arrived? Completed the journey? Finished the race? No, I don't think any of us will say, "Yes, I'm there."
But I don't worry so much over whether we're "there"; I worry more about whether we're here--really and genuinely here. Because, you see, while it is a given that we're all here physically--wherever we may find ourselves at the moment--it's far from a given that we are perfectly here in the critical realm of spirit and soul--truly, vividly present. Are we present to God, or are we spiritually absent? Are we vitally open and accessible to Him, to His will and love? Are we "here" in obedience and sensitivity to the Spirit of God. That's what it means to be "here", present in the presence of God.
No, of course none of us is entirely "there" yet....
Paul says, in Philippians 3:13, "I do not consider myself to have attained, but forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward I strive toward the goal, to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
There's the issue: whether we're pressing on to the goal defines whether we're genuinely here for God right now. Truly here, now, fully, for God. Where are you?
I think the most vivid analogy, especially for young people (and not only) is the whole matter of falling in love--when a person only wants to be in the company of the object of their all-consuming affections, and every moment with them, every scintilla of a moment, is permeated with electric reality. At those moments a person's attention doesn't wander; he's completely there on every imaginable level of his being, utterly alive in the moment.
Where are we in our lives with Jesus Christ? Completely here on every imaginable level? How can we be here for Him?
John 14:15 - "If you love me, you will obey my commandments."
John 15:10 - If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commandments and remain in his love."
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments...."
Notice that the Lord directly ties love to obedience. Why? He says, "If you love Me...." It depends on love! Because it is love itself that spurs, that stimulates and moves us to do what He says, that makes us want to see His will made real. Only if we're convinced to the bottom of our souls that His ways and will are just perfect and magnificent (you see, that's how we feel if we love Him!) will we strain with irrepressible, in-suppressible desire and alacrity to realize His design and aims, because we know there's nothing even conceivably better.
Of course, such an internal "vision" isn't possible at all if we don't spend serious time with God in the intimacy of prayer and contemplation of His word.
Where are you in that respect? It's a safe bet that none of us is where we know we ought to be.
Here is an encouraging word: the most glorious fact of the matter is, God is merciful: "His mercies are new every morning". And He loves each of us, and waits for the cry of our hearts and the appeal of our spirits so that He might respond with a manifestation of grace unveiled and the power of Life. We can always, always, always say to God, "Yes, I'm here, now, totally, for You. Receive my spirit's cry, Lord."
"If you love me, you will obey my commandments." Which commandments? The Ten Commandments? The Beatitudes? Or the command to sell all we have, give it to the poor and go and follow Him? Which commandments? It's not such an easy question. So which commandments: the commandment to attend church? To read the Bible? We want to know the answer because we want to love the Lord in practice and completely "be here", present and alive to the Lord, at every moment. So, Lord: which way should I make sure I know your real will, every day of my life?
The Lord says, "I am the way, the truth and the life."
It's a simple but not an easy answer. We ask, we demand, a list of rules and regulations; instead, our Savior responds by presenting nothing less than Himself.
A list of rules can be memorized but a living Lord can only be known--and all the more and deeper with every step of life--because in Christ the opportunity is ceaselessly present to be present, now, completely for Him.
Where are you?
Somebody might, I suppose, object, "But I still need some kind of firm law, a set of guidelines, to give my life a reliable framework."
Well, I'll agree in this sense: life without law is no life at all. Imagine life without any laws! For example, without the law of gravity! Or the law of cause-and-effect! Not only would the coffee refuse to pour into your coffee cup simply because you were tipping the coffee pot, but even if it did, it wouldn't stay there! Or, on a more abstract level, but no less meaningful by any means, imagine life without the "law" of love, or of justice. Ultimately, laws are the principles of reality, the framework of everything that is. No "laws", no reality!
But here's the most amazing thing, and a very problematic thing for us Christians. The highest law of our life is Jesus Christ Himself, Who says, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." The Lord also says (John 8:32) "And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.
There's your law for you! You will know the truth and the truth will set you free!
In the Epistle of James, James develops the essence of this truth: (1:25) "But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out--he will be blessed in what he does", and (2:12) " Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law that gives freedom."
You will know the truth, the truth will make you free, and you will be judged according to that law of freedom. The life of Jesus Christ in us, His presence and power, the power of His resurrection and eternal life, this is the "law of freedom" operating in us and establishing the framework of authentic and full-fledged life: if we really remain, stay rooted, wherever life takes us, fully present, fully "here" to the Lord.
Galatians 6:2 says, "Carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." That's the law of Christ in you! If He truly lives in you, then there is no law that can conceivably take precedence to the law of Christ living in you! And if that's the case, then what Paul says at Galatians 4:6 depicts with crystal clarity the living, dynamic force of this all-encompassing law of our lives: "And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, who calls, "Abba! Father!"
Precisely the same essential reality echoes in 1 John 3:1--"See what a love the Father has bestowed on us: that we should be called God's children--and indeed we are!"
Children naturally demonstrate the character traits of their Father, and these naturally demonstrated characters traits, in the lives of God's children, are what Paul calls the "fruit of the Spirit": "...[T]he fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Why does Paul, to begin with, mention this "fruit", and, in the second place, point out that there's no "law" against it? Because certain Hebrew-Christians from Jerusalem, most likely former Pharisees like Paul, had come to Galatia and, even though they believed in Christ, insisted nonetheless on exact, rigorous, scrupulous obedience to the Mosaic Law as the true way to enter into the people of God and their blessings. We can encapsulate their position this way: while we know that the law was given to lead us to Christ, their view was the opposite, i.e., that Christ was given to lead the world to the Mosaic law!
And so these false brethren, as Paul calls them, were telling the Christians in Galatia, "It's good, of course, that you have received the Messiah Jesus, but only Moses' Law will reveal to you how you should live and how to get rid of everything in your lives that doesn't please God."
And what does the apostle Paul say? Galatians 5:18-25
"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit." (NET Bible)
If I may paraphrase the apostle, what he is saying, in other words, is this:
"You have no need anymore for a law that tells you how bad all these things are! You know it perfectly well! And if you live in harmony with the Spirit given to you by God, then the holy life of God's kingdom will naturally come out in you! To repeat: if you simply live in harmony with the Spirit given to you by God, then the holy life of God's kingdom will naturally fulfill itself in you--in love, joy, peace, patience and the like. And what's the point, then, of any set of rules, when such a life is already working perfectly well without them? What purpose would such a law serve? To tell you not to live that way?"
When is the "Law of Christ" displayed in action? Not "then" and "there" but "here" and "now"! The constant question is, is the Spirit of God manifesting in my life, here, now, fully, for God?
In Romans 1:5, Paul speaks of the "obedience of faith". Faith itself is an act of obedience, and it fully materializes in obedience to this core, central, intrinsic law of Christ. Standing before Pilate, the Lord boldly declared, "For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world - to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." This is the essence of the law of Christ at work in our lives, our vital link to the truth that sets us free, free from everything that resists the unimpeachable life of God that will not be governed or regulated by an inferior law. There is no law that can compete with a life charged with this vision:
Compete well for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession for in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God who gives life to all things and Christ Jesus who made his good confession before Pontius Pilate, to obey this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ – whose appearing the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will reveal at the right time. He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen. (1 Timothy 6:12-17; NET Bible)
Whatever our age, whatever our education, whatever our nationality, however long we have been following Christ, and whatever our dreams in life may be, we are all the recipients of this charge and supreme calling from the Throne of Heaven!
And we all have the same spiritual need: that God be here, fully, now, for us, in His love.
He will; His own love compels Him.
He will surround, enfold and indwell us, and endue us with everything we need--at every moment, in every place--to live in the holy freedom, by the holy law, of Christ, as the victorious children of Christ's resurrection... all the way....
Until we're there.
When is the "Law of Christ" displayed in action? Not "then" and "there" but "here" and "now"! The constant question is, is the Spirit of God manifesting in my life, here, now, fully, for God?
In Romans 1:5, Paul speaks of the "obedience of faith". Faith itself is an act of obedience, and it fully materializes in obedience to this core, central, intrinsic law of Christ. Standing before Pilate, the Lord boldly declared, "For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world - to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." This is the essence of the law of Christ at work in our lives, our vital link to the truth that sets us free, free from everything that resists the unimpeachable life of God that will not be governed or regulated by an inferior law. There is no law that can compete with a life charged with this vision:
Compete well for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession for in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God who gives life to all things and Christ Jesus who made his good confession before Pontius Pilate, to obey this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ – whose appearing the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will reveal at the right time. He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen. (1 Timothy 6:12-17; NET Bible)
Whatever our age, whatever our education, whatever our nationality, however long we have been following Christ, and whatever our dreams in life may be, we are all the recipients of this charge and supreme calling from the Throne of Heaven!
And we all have the same spiritual need: that God be here, fully, now, for us, in His love.
He will; His own love compels Him.
He will surround, enfold and indwell us, and endue us with everything we need--at every moment, in every place--to live in the holy freedom, by the holy law, of Christ, as the victorious children of Christ's resurrection... all the way....
Until we're there.
