We serve the artist, not the curator.

Because of the type of Bible Study (Haverim Devotions) me and the team do each week, and because most of the year we have been reading out of the book of Mark, we have had lots of conversations about the Law of Moses. Did Jesus break the Law? Should we keep the Law? Do we only need to follow the 10 Commandments, what about the Noahide laws?

It's been really interesting and engaging to learn more about the Laws and their complex history, but in my own heart I am still digesting all that we have learned and discussed. Today in my personal devotions I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and for some reason today, probably because of all the past conversations we'd had the last 8 months something clicked in my mind like never before. 

You may already know and understand what I am writing but I am just hoping someone will gain something from my perspective or that it will open up some conversations. I am basically going to just transcribe what I wrote in my journal right after reading 2 Co 3 now: 

Lots of time this year has been spent talking about the Law and if we should still follow it. Before Jesus it was as if we were children and we knew that if we followed the law we were doing the right thing. It didn't matter if the right thing happened to kill you -- we were still doing the right thing. 

But now as someone who's heart and mind has been unveiled by Christ we can see and view the whole picture - we can see the Law fully and understand how - YES, these are great and important ways to remain righteous - but we also know that the law does not save us. We are not bound by (or to) the Law. We have freedom -- 2 Co 3:17 - Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom! -- A freedom that comes through Christ and that freedom allows us to decide what following the Law looks like for us, we can decide whether or not to save our donkey.  This is very important because for me & you we might have differing opinions about what is a sin and what is not, but it is also a very personal thing, Spurgeon writes this about the 'Law in our Hearts' 

When God writes the law in a man's heart, he takes the law more to himself than he applies it to anybody else and his cry is not, "See how my neighbors sin," but, "See how I sin." His clamor is not against his brother's, fault, but against his own fault. No longer does he look out for motes in other men s eyes, but he is most concerned about the beam which he is quite is in his own eye, he and prays the Lord to remove it.

For me, thinking about the Law and knowing that I have been unveiled - I have received freedom through Christ, not through the Law, it helps me better digest and understand the importance of the Law, and understand how the Law shapes and guides my beliefs. It doesn't create my belief - it is not the artist in an art gallery, but rather the curator, helping set me up and guide me into have the best view and understanding of the artists creations. Lets all remember, we serve and worship the artist, not the curator.