The Law or Love? Another one of my writings from around 2009

[Roy Taylor]

The Law or Love
​

When you fear the Lord and do his will out of fear, you are keeping the law. You do this because you fear his judgment on you if you break the law. This is good. This is the beginning of wisdom.
Now when you love the Lord with all of your heart, you will do his will because it is in your heart to please him. And you wouldn't want to offend him.

Stop smoking and drinking and watching television and movies and rock and roll music and bars, I could stop doing because they were easier for me to stop. Because I had a slight fear of God, I felt I should stop doing those things. Bondage like gossip and slander and cursing when angry and anger and lust and pride and hate and judging is embedded in me from years of repetition and though I want to break free of these things, I cannot seam to do because I don’t love God enough to stop. I still find myself still chasing the world like careers and new job opportunities and dances and women and entertainment because I find I love myself more and want to please myself more than I want to please God.

I suppose if I loved a girl with all my heart, I would want to spend all of my time and thoughts on her. I would not say anything bad about her. I would not gossip about her. I would not be angry with her and would really understand when her ideas were not my ideas. I would want to do what she wants to do. I would not worry about myself or my will like careers and dances and my friends. I would sacrifice all that to do her will and do what she wants to do. Do you think maybe this is the person Jesus is looking for?

If I had children, I suppose it would be a joy if they would keep my sayings because they respect me and love me and trust my judgments and wisdom. Now if they just give me lip service because they don’t respect my wisdom nor trust my judgments because they think they are wise in their own eyes and know better than me, that would drain my joy if I truly love them with all my heart. I believe our Father in heaven feels the same when we decide to do it our way because we worship ourselves and our pleasures more than we love and worship Him. We become wise in our own eyes and say to God, “God I know better than you. I don’t have time for you God. I am too busy with my career God. I am too busy having fun God. I am too busy watching TV God. I am too busy listening to a man teach me about you God. I am too tired to read your bible God. I don’t understand what your bible is telling me God so I need a man to teach me God. My friends are more important to me than spending time with you God. I worship myself and what I want to do first God and when if I find the time and desire, I will worship you for a moment God. Ask yourself, do you find yourself doing things like this? Read the parable of the marriage supper Matthew 22 .

Pray that God writes his laws and statues and judgments on our heart. Pray that God writes his love in our hearts and minds and then we will keep his laws because we truly love him. We can’t keep his way if we don’t love him and love ourselves more than him. We can’t keep his ways if we love ourselves more than our neighbor.

Not my will but thy will be done. My will is selfish. My will is making me a god and worshiping myself over the living God. My will is doing what I want to do when I feel like it. There is no sacrifice in doing my will. And there will be no sanctification doing my will either. My will is evil out of an evil heart. My will is to get and to lust and to look good before people and to get praised by people. My will is to be a people pleaser. My will is to look beautiful. My will is to be in control of my situation. My will is to rule over others. My will is to store up for retirement. My will is to be successful. My will is to sleep in. My will is to eat what I want to eat (glutton). My will is for my neighbors to bow to me and do as I want them to do. My will is for people to stay out of my way while driving. My will is to let others know when they are wrong and to tell them how they are wrong. My will says I am always right. Or right 90% of the time. My will is to be a popular preacher or teacher of the Word by tickling their ears with luke warm milk. Whatever it takes to look good and be a hero and to show how much I know about my religion. Jesus! Take up your cross and follow me! . Isaiah 14:13 …I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. What??? Isn’t’ this what we are really thinking? Or is it just me? Examine your own hearts and repent!

 

[Palmfever]

My will is selfish. My will is making me a god and worshiping myself over the living God. My will is doing what I want to do when I feel like it. There is no sacrifice in doing my will. And there will be no sanctification doing my will either. My will is evil out of an evil heart. My will is to get and to lust and to look good before people and to get praised by people. My will is to be a people pleaser. My will is to look beautiful. My will is to be in control of my situation. My will is to rule over others. My will is to store up for retirement. My will is to be successful. My will is to sleep in. My will is to eat what I want to eat (glutton). My will is for my neighbors to bow to me and do as I want them to do. My will is for people to stay out of my way while driving. My will is to let others know when they are wrong and to tell them how they are wrong. My will says I am always right. Or right 90% of the time. My will is to be a popular preacher or teacher of the Word by tickling their ears with luke warm milk. Whatever it takes to look good and be a hero and to show how much I know about my religion. Jesus! Take up your cross and follow me! .

I liked the essence of your post. Humans by nature are born self absorbed. As infants we demand our security, food, warmth, cleaning. We scream when left without essential necessities. This is survival, it is natural. As we age our will is directed by the choices made in past experience.

There is nothing wrong in and of themselves with;
Eating what you like
Dressing nicely
Sex
Circadian rhythm
Saving for retirement
Success
Rebuke
Being in control of your life…

Our humanity was examined and approved of by God when He created us. Our nature, if it is self serving as an adult is evidence that we have been feeding the wrong wolf. While Christ did state, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,” it is that trust, innocence, and faith in the Father He referred to. As Paul states, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

We suppress the lower nature and serve the Most High.
I get your premise though. Your seem to be encouraging us to reach higher than our own thoughts and resist the tempter.

In Christ

 

[Soyeong]

The Law or Love
​

When you fear the Lord and do his will out of fear, you are keeping the law. You do this because you fear his judgment on you if you break the law. This is good. This is the beginning of wisdom.
Now when you love the Lord with all of your heart, you will do his will because it is in your heart to please him. And you wouldn't want to offend him.

Stop smoking and drinking and watching television and movies and rock and roll music and bars, I could stop doing because they were easier for me to stop. Because I had a slight fear of God, I felt I should stop doing those things. Bondage like gossip and slander and cursing when angry and anger and lust and pride and hate and judging is embedded in me from years of repetition and though I want to break free of these things, I cannot seam to do because I don’t love God enough to stop. I still find myself still chasing the world like careers and new job opportunities and dances and women and entertainment because I find I love myself more and want to please myself more than I want to please God.

I suppose if I loved a girl with all my heart, I would want to spend all of my time and thoughts on her. I would not say anything bad about her. I would not gossip about her. I would not be angry with her and would really understand when her ideas were not my ideas. I would want to do what she wants to do. I would not worry about myself or my will like careers and dances and my friends. I would sacrifice all that to do her will and do what she wants to do. Do you think maybe this is the person Jesus is looking for?

If I had children, I suppose it would be a joy if they would keep my sayings because they respect me and love me and trust my judgments and wisdom. Now if they just give me lip service because they don’t respect my wisdom nor trust my judgments because they think they are wise in their own eyes and know better than me, that would drain my joy if I truly love them with all my heart. I believe our Father in heaven feels the same when we decide to do it our way because we worship ourselves and our pleasures more than we love and worship Him. We become wise in our own eyes and say to God, “God I know better than you. I don’t have time for you God. I am too busy with my career God. I am too busy having fun God. I am too busy watching TV God. I am too busy listening to a man teach me about you God. I am too tired to read your bible God. I don’t understand what your bible is telling me God so I need a man to teach me God. My friends are more important to me than spending time with you God. I worship myself and what I want to do first God and when if I find the time and desire, I will worship you for a moment God. Ask yourself, do you find yourself doing things like this? Read the parable of the marriage supper Matthew 22 .

Pray that God writes his laws and statues and judgments on our heart. Pray that God writes his love in our hearts and minds and then we will keep his laws because we truly love him. We can’t keep his way if we don’t love him and love ourselves more than him. We can’t keep his ways if we love ourselves more than our neighbor.

Not my will but thy will be done. My will is selfish. My will is making me a god and worshiping myself over the living God. My will is doing what I want to do when I feel like it. There is no sacrifice in doing my will. And there will be no sanctification doing my will either. My will is evil out of an evil heart. My will is to get and to lust and to look good before people and to get praised by people. My will is to be a people pleaser. My will is to look beautiful. My will is to be in control of my situation. My will is to rule over others. My will is to store up for retirement. My will is to be successful. My will is to sleep in. My will is to eat what I want to eat (glutton). My will is for my neighbors to bow to me and do as I want them to do. My will is for people to stay out of my way while driving. My will is to let others know when they are wrong and to tell them how they are wrong. My will says I am always right. Or right 90% of the time. My will is to be a popular preacher or teacher of the Word by tickling their ears with luke warm milk. Whatever it takes to look good and be a hero and to show how much I know about my religion. Jesus! Take up your cross and follow me! . Isaiah 14:13 …I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. What??? Isn’t’ this what we are really thinking? Or is it just me? Examine your own hearts and repent!

The Hebrew word "pachad" refers to the type of fear that causes us to want to run away and hide, while the word "yireh" refers to the type of fear that causes us to see and want to run towards someone. In other words, there is a type of fear where we don't want to be close to someone who is evil and a type of fear where we don't want to be separated from someone who is good, and the type of fear that is the beginning of wisdom is the latter, which is rooted in love. In Exodus 20:6, God wanted His people to love Him and obey His commandments, and in 1 John 5:3, to love God is to obey His commandments, which are not burdensome, so obedience to the Mosaic Law has always been about expressing our love for God. The Mosaic Law teaches us how to testify about His nature, so the reason why the Bible associates obedience to it with our love for God is because we it is delighting in the nature who God is.