in the law of the Lord...
My continuing study from John Piper's Future Grace encouraged me to delight in the law of the Lord just as the saints of old loved His precepts and commands (Psalm 119). We sometimes forget that 'Jesus did not come to abolish the law but fulfill it' (Matthew 5:17). I am blessed to be a part of a local church that is not only strong doctrinally, but also emphasizes life-style discipleship as we come alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ to support and spur one another toward love and good deeds. However, many churches today do not seem to place much focus on righteous acts. Our righteous obedience matters now as much as the Old Testament prophets who walked blamelessly before the Lord their God. Piper reminds us that Hebrews 11 lists those, who by faith, BELIEVED God and it was counted as righteousness. These imperfect people, through faith in God's promises of grace, delighted in the law and their obedience and acts were pleasing to the Lord.This should be a great encouragement that our Father in heaven is not impossible to please. In fact, like every person with a very big heart and very high standards, he is easy to please and hard to satisfy. We would would not want it otherwise. We want the smile of his happy affection and the fierce sparkle in his eye that we can-and one day will-do, O, so much better. With this understanding of how we are accepted by God through faith in our Redeemer whose perfect obedience counts as ours, and with a grasp of how genuinely worth obedience of our own is possible by faith in God's promises, the saints were able to say, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." (152)Back to Matthew 5, verse 16 admonishes us to shine so clearly that our good works are visible to men that they in turn give glory to our Father in heaven. Come with me today, as I...
delight in
the
beauty of enduring grace.
