Many, who like to think themselves progressive, suggest the New Testament is all about love not about rules or law.

But in Matthew 5:17, Jesus made it clear that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

He asserted that God’s laws should be followed as evidence of a changed heart.

Yes, it’s true that Christianity is not just a religion, it’s a relationship.

But it’s not a “you do what feels right to you”, equal party relationship.

If you are saved, Jesus is not your “co-pilot” but your Lord to obey and follow.

Because Jesus lives in my heart, because He gave me life when He died on the cross, I love Him and choose to daily surrender my ways to His better ways.

I recently heard JD Greear say, “If you only obey God when it makes sense to you then He is NOT your Lord. He is only your advisor.”

The fact is, if Jesus defeated death and made a way for me to be in Heaven with a Holy God, I can certainly trust Him more than I trust me and this compels me to want to do what He says.

In Matthew 5:21-30, Jesus explains that sin begins in the heart. It’s our stinking thinking that gets us in trouble. And our thinking can get off so very easily. This is why we need to be in the Word daily. It reads us. It calms us, corrects us, guides us and changes us.

God’s Holy Spirit inspired Word tells us things like— “as a man thinks, so he is”(Prov 23:7). So, as we endeavor to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:5), we find peace that far outweighs our circumstances.

Oh friend, may the powerful, fruit-bearing, Word of God get in us. May it do the work it was set to accomplish. May we obey the Lord daily and may He work in and through us for our good and His glory!

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