Hebrews 5:11-14 – We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 10:16 – “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
Romans 8:28-29 – A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
Is it discipline? Yes, and no. Perhaps at the beginning, but afterward, that is ultimately, discipline is only the beginning. Like a child being disciplined to live within the best qualities of life, it is something learned, something learned through disciplining by wise and loving parents. At first the child does not want to share, but eventually the child learns to share and benefits of sharing. Having learned rudimentary elements of the surpassing quality of sharing the child learns to do it not only under the watchful eye of a parent, but also when away from the parent. Perhaps in kindergarten, or earlier in preschool or at the park, the child shares because the child has learned that sharing is better. The child learns that sharing brings joy to the lives of others and that giving joy to others is something that brings joy to self. The child begins to enjoy sharing, and being kind, and being caring and being loving. The child has already learned that expressing love to mommy and daddy brings them happiness which in turn makes the child happy. Learning the best qualities is first taught, then enforced through discipline and reminders, which the child does not at first understand, but will do. The external teaching, discipline and reminders eventually are no longer needed because the child has incorporated the teaching into its life. At that time the lesson has become a habit of the child that the child does without thinking. Eventually the child learns the beauty of the lesson and enjoys the quality that the lesson brings in its life. The child, with the lesson within its heart, even in its very soul, relearns the lesson and understands it and holds onto it not as something externally learned, but as something internal. Therefore, what started as an external lesson became an internal treasure that is part of the intrinsic nature, the intrinsic qualities of the child. The law is no longer an external duty but rather something that flows from its own soul. The lesson is complete. The child is now someone different than before the lesson, it is a new and better creation.
Family, the dos and don’ts of the Bible are not meant to be external directions on how we are to live all our lives. The do’s and don’ts, or The Law, is something external that can never be fully lived up to. That is clearly shown in the Word. It was given by God to show us who God our Creator is. To show His intrinsic self to us. It is to teach us His ways so that we know how to live as He lives and to know what being one with Him will be like. His law is a reminder of who Adam and Eve were before the fall and how effortless it is to live with God if we are what He meant us to be. Before the fall, Adam and Eve effortlessly pleased God because they had a different nature. They were innocent and lovely in spirit, mind, intent and action. They were who God meant them to be. Sin changed them. They died. It is such a horrible story. But God knew all that would happen from the eternal past and had a plan to save mankind and to put Himself in their hearts and souls and remake the children of Adam and Eve into what they were meant to be.
So the law lived in Adam and Eve before it had to be given from God to men, but was external to hearts and souls of the children of Adam and Eve. God so loved all of us that He would not let mankinde simply die into eternal torment without giving them another opportunity to be one with Him. So Jesus paid the full price for the sin of all who would honor Him as Savior and Lord, for all who would receive the Holy Spirit to live themselves as the disciples of Jesus. All these then begin the reconstruction of themselves to have, and to be, what the Lord wanted them to be. Jesus takes the hand of the person who loves Him and leads them back to their Father in Heaven who adores and cherishes each one. Jesus presents all who belong to Him back to their heavenly Father! Oh what a moment! Jesus brings back to His what Adam and Eve so effortlessly had. Jesus did the work to make serving God not an external checklist, but the fruit of what flows from within. It is work and discipline at first, but the child learns and grows and what was a purposeful thought becomes an effortless fruit of a divinely changed heart and soul.
As we grow in understanding we grow in the knowledge that God is good and that He loves us. There is no richer knowledge. A knowledge that is not externally seen and known, but that lives within and flows. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”