February 4 - God’s Perfect Law
The law of the Lord is perfect, it is a standard with which humankind may live by. The fulfillment of the law makes one blameless before the Lord, our Lawgiver. The perfection of the law allows us to stay away from sin, which is humankind’s greatest problem. The perfection is not in the law but in the Lawgiver, our Lord. He wants us to know Him and to be like Him, to love Him and to live a life of perfection. We must believe in the possibility of complete sanctification that we can, with God’s help, go about life without sinning. The law of the Lord is guiding us into that.
The Lord has been speaking to us through general revelation in His creation, as the first six verses of Psalms 19 have so eloquently stated. Apart from that, God also speaks to us through His Word, His Law and His prophets in the Old Testament. When the Son came to earth, God spoke through His Son (see Hebrews 1:1), who is also the Word that became flesh (John 1:14).
The Psalmist uses different terms to describe the law of the Lord: the testimony of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, the fear of the Lord and the rules of the Lord. They are given for the welfare of humankind. It revives the soul, makes us wise, rejoices the heart, enlightening the eyes, cleaning up our lives and leading us to righteousness. The names and the functions of the law are for one purpose: that we may not sin against God.
Human weaknesses and sinfulness are commonplace in our lives. We need to be warned so that we may get a great reward. The mistakes we are making are described as errors, hidden faults, presumptuous sins and great transgression. The greatest need in our lives is to discern errors, be declared innocent, not be dominated by sins and be blameless. Our words and our thoughts must be acceptable in God’s sight.
In the New Testament reading, Jesus rebuked the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees. They only taught others but did not practice it themselves. They exalted themselves and took God’s place. They were outside of God’s Kingdom and taught others to do just that. They focused on outside observances but totally ignored the heart attitude. They majored on details but missed the most important parts of the law. In one word, they were lawless. The sins of their fathers came heavy on them and they were completing the iniquities of their ancestors.
We all have a sin problem. Some of us minimize sin by excusing it and accepting it. Some of us become self-righteous and point fingers at the sins of others. Even some others have been enslaved by sin. Are you taking care of your sin problem today?
Ps 19:7-14 Exo 19:16-21:21 Matt 23:13-39 Prov 7:1-5