2 Corinthians 3:7-18 -- “Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory! Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”
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Do you feel free? When you think about the options you have available to you every day, at any given moment, do you believe the choice on how to act is yours alone?
Paul makes an interesting and important comparison between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in his second letter to the church in Corinth. He talks about the Ten Commandments and how the rules and laws (all 613 of them, the Mitzvah) put in place by the ancient Hebrews pushed down and restricted them. The complexity of the rites, rituals, sacrificial requirements...pigeons for this sin, bulls for that sin, wheat for yet another...made for a labyrinthine path to righteousness. Contrarily, when Jesus came, His sacrifice fulfilled the Law and it was no longer necessary.
When I was younger, I remember thinking that I could not wait until I grew up and could eat whatever I wanted...and not eat what I did not want...stay up all night, do the things I wanted to do. I felt like the restrictions my parents, teachers and others in authority put on me were unfair and kept me from enjoying the life I wanted to live. Don’t we all feel this way as kids, especially as teenagers or young adults still living at home? Believe me, as parents of a sixteen year old daughter, Greta and I fight that battle every day, coming from the other direction.
I often chuckle when thinking about some of the dietary requirements associated with ancient rules and laws. Honestly, I do believe they came from God. I picture God saying to Himself thousands of years ago, “OK, I created these things called Lobsters and, when cooked properly, they taste awesome. If My Chosen People figure this out, they’ll want to eat it all of the time. But, I’m not sure they can figure out how to cook and eat these weird creatures in the right way without killing off most of their families. I’ll just put it on their hearts that they are not supposed to eat lobster. Once they figure it out in a few centuries...and by the way, I send My Son to fulfill the law...I’ll make it OK to eat lobster. Oh yeah...I need to do the same thing with pork because of that little Trichinella bug I created. That could be bad too.”
Sorry for the little bit of heretical familiarity with how God may think, but, it does help make the point that there are times when we need to follow rules and do things in ways that don’t seem to make sense at the time. We ask “why?” We can’t wait for the time when we will become unfettered from these rules. And yet, as we grow older and gain wisdom over the years, we start to realize that all of those restrictions had their importance at the time. They were the means to form us and steer us in the right direction, often keeping us from harming ourselves.
The glory of Christ’s sacrifice and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives takes the early laws established by Moses and his people, laws focused on things external to our being, and frees us to focus on what is inside. Why do we feel guilty or bad about ourselves when we do something we know is wrong? I’m not necessarily talking about when we break the speed limit or roll through a stop sign. I’m talking about when we say a hurtful word, when we don’t seize the opportunity to help someone in need or when we turn away from the Divine creation God has allowed and encourages us to be. We have these feelings of unworthiness because the Spirit is in us. When we made the choice to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes into us and the veil is removed. We turn around and see God in all that we are and in all that we do. When the Spirit is in our bodies and our being, but we turn back to our old ways at times, the Spirit does not allow us to enjoy our sin any more. With freedom comes responsibility; to ourselves and to others. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48)
So, I’ll ask again: do you feel free? It is a hard thing to consider. We feel free in the sense that we have immeasurable ability to make choices...good and bad...every day. But remember that the glorious blessing that comes with with freedom is the equal blessing of being given great responsibility, to ourselves and to others. Be encouraged by the fact that with our freedom, we are no longer bound by Laws which restrict our ability to love, to give, to provide help and to care. The law of death is gone and we are freed, glorious in the law of eternal life.
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