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And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
I think I am starting to see even more the relationship between two of the questions I have been dwelling on for the past few days: “What did God do that the Law could not do?”, and “What does it mean that He condemned sin in the flesh?”
The Law (10 commandments) describes in very sparse terms what a life would look like if one had love. That makes sense since it is a description of God's character and God is love. However, the Law cannot awaken or create love in me, especially since my perception of the Law is skewed through the distorting lens of my sinful flesh. What awakens within me under these conditions is condemnation and fear. Fear is the primary element of the enemy's kingdom and condemnation is one of his favorite weapons against us. Condemnation causes debilitation, reduction in energy and hope, torment and ultimately our demise. It severely limits my ability to thrive and deprives me of vital sources of life which progressively reduces my ability to function. It increasingly fills my heart with fear, dread and torture of soul, discouraging me and drawing away my life forces, both mental and physical. Condemnation tends toward and ultimately takes me to death.
The Law has no ability to stop this process; in fact, it is unintentionally an accomplice in this process through the deceptiveness and distortions of sin living in my flesh. I will never be free from this distorting lens of sinful flesh for as long as I live in this present world, but there is a provision supplied whereby I do not have to remain in this debilitating condition of slavery to sin.
So here is what I see that God did that the Law could not do. He introduced a new element into the mix by means of the life and death of Jesus Christ whereby my sinful flesh becomes the object of debilitation instead of my heart. He also empowers me by means of the indwelling presence of Jesus to receive the new element of selfless love. The presence and outworking of this supernatural love from my heart (the base of operations for my life where Jesus takes up residence) becomes the fulfilling of the requirements of the Law.
Love now becomes the motive for my life that displaces fear as my driving force. My relationships shift from being fear-bonded to being love-bonded. But another important thing begins to happen. By taking on the likeness of sinful flesh and from that vantage point, Jesus turned the debilitating effects of condemnation against the flesh instead of against my heart as indwelling sin has always done. In this new condition the indwelling Christ within me continues to introduce love, assurance, peace and all the other characteristics of heaven as He fulfills the requirements of the Law from His vantage place of living within my heart. And the effects of these new emotions and motivations becomes just as debilitating and disruptive to the man of sin in my flesh as the effects of condemnation had previously been on my heart from the working of sin in my flesh and mind. Sin in the flesh is now the recipient of condemnation instead of my heart.
The war is not over however. Sin is still very present and persistent in my flesh and it will not be uprooted until at least the Second Coming. It is still quite capable at any time of taking over control of my life again at any point in time should it be able to out-maneuver or deceive my will into accepting its suggestions. Then it will immediately commandeer my life and quickly move to try to undo all the positive progress that Jesus has worked to accomplish in my heart and mind. It will then impose an immense load of guilt and condemnation onto my heart as a result of the very things it has caused me to do through its suggestions in an attempt to regain its stranglehold over my heart and try to convince me that this is my true identity. It will attempt to throw me into feelings of hopelessness and despair and cause me to surrender complete control of my life back to my flesh and the familiar depression and darkness that have so long been my existence. It will fill me with fear and shame and insist that Jesus does not live in my heart and will not accept me back or forgive me. It will point me to the Law again through its distorting lens and declare that as a sinner my only option is to live in condemnation and fear and that there is no realistic alternative except to find as much pleasure from other sources as I can.
This is where the left brain can be most helpful when the right brain is overcome with negative emotions and lies about reality. If the mind (left brain intellect) has been filled with the truth about God and now fixes its attention on the promises and Word of God in spite of all the lying feelings in our emotional being, then the mind can take control of the will in spite of our overwhelmed feelings and choose to believe God's words. I can lay hold on God's forgiveness by blind faith and based on God's Word alone claim the reality of God's presence even though I may not be able to sense it. The healing life of God will then begin to dispel the clouds of deception that fill my heart and reveal that Jesus has not really left my heart after all, that He was only hidden from view by the cloud of condemnation imposed over Him by the lies from my sinful flesh.
The Word of God brought into the mind will act as a light in the darkness of our emotions and we can again see that our faith was not without reward. We can choose to receive repentance which is awakened within us by dwelling on the kindness and goodness of God. (Rom. 2:4) Repentance will open the door for the healing love of Jesus to be unleashed in our heart re-awakening our emotions of love and gratitude and reigniting the fire of God's passion in our life which is our vital connection for thriving.
Jesus acts like a mirror in our heart that catches the broadcasting beam of condemnation from our flesh and beams it right back at the flesh instead of allowing it to wreak its damage in our heart. With Jesus active and alive in our hearts the flesh is kept at bay and contained so that the new motivations of selfless love, praise and gratitude can become the well-spring from which a new life of glorifying God will begin to prosper “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4)
