From Rules to Relationship

When I first put my faith in Christ, the next obvious question was, “so what now?”  My pastor sent me on my way as a 10-year-old to figure this out on my own. Don’t get me wrong. I was and am grateful for my pastor’s time and help; it was the beginning of my faith! But I had no idea what it means to “Walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Recently, I’ve been reading and musing on Galatians. As with many, perhaps most Scripture, it all seems pretty simple at first. Why would some silly Jews think they’ll be better off by following their old law customs? Why does Paul get so crazy about what they are doing? But wait. What is “my law”? Having begun by faith, do I now think that I must live by rules.  And what rules might these be?

Here we can begin to see that what we thought were just helpful patterns of discipleship—Bible reading, prayer, giving, hard work, church life—may have hardened into rules. And if my spiritual life is lived only by these rules, am I really any different than “those foolish Galatians, who have turned to another gospel”?

Why do so many of us seek to live by rules? For me, it’s just so much easier to see how good or how bad I am.

Of course, we do need to break our chains via confession, forgiveness, and renouncing lies and unhealthy ties. But once we are free from those, then what (if we aren’t supposed to live by rules)?

What we do comes from who we are; that is, who we believe ourselves to be. So, the only open avenue is changing our beliefs and changing our heart.

Tim Keller’s analysis of Psalms 86:8-13 is helpful here:

“David asks for an ‘undivided heart’ (verse 11).  A divided heart can have many forms.  There is the insincere heart, in which what is said out loud doesn’t match the inner attitude (Psalm 12:1). There is the irresolute heart, which cannot fully commit itself to God (James 1:6-8). Even hearts regenerated by the Spirit can retain much of the old, willful resentment to God’s authority (Romans 7:15-25). David’s goal is not psychological healing for its own sake but to ‘fear’ God—to give him joyful, awe-filled love with his entire being.  The way to this new heart is not introspection but deliberate worship (Ps 86:12). ‘I will praise you,’ he says.”  (Tim Keller, The Songs of Jesus, Viking, 2015, p. 211.). 

David points to the love relationship that he’s developed with God. It is a closeness born out of years of suffering and witnessing God’s constant protection and provision. Paul, on the other hand, speaks of it as magnificent unbounding grace (Galatians 1:11-16 & Ephesians 2:5-9). Paul knows what he would have been if Jesus had not met him, and he can’t but glory in the grace and mercy he’s been given. The gap between what he would have been and who he became is immense.  Even after many years “in Christ,” the freshness of this glorious transformation has not faded. Grace is simply the love of God expressed by giving us what we don’t deserve. Paul knows this intimately; he lives it.

So how do we need to reorient ourselves? Are we still living by rules, expecting our behaviors to get better as we do? Even if they are better on the outside, is there any real change in our heart?

From my own, and Paul’s experience, the answer clearly is no.  To change our behavior, we need to change our heart. To change our heart, we need to change our real beliefs. We can begin to change our beliefs by making the choice to do so. This is what we call busting a stronghold.

But perhaps there is more. Note that David and Paul go beyond a change of heart. They move into deep appreciation of God, love of God, and fear of God. Our ongoing love/fear relationship with God will sustain us now and into the future. As with David we can say: “For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can lead over a wall.”  (Psalm 18:29)

*Stay tuned for the second devotional in this 5-part series on Walking in the Spirit!