9. My spiritual activities include “laws”; things I do because I believe Jesus asks or commands me to.

(Before looking at the questions below, take a few minutes to think about this statement. Invite Jesus to speak to you about what He would like you to notice.) 

How does the idea that God has given us laws that we must obey, feel to you?

When you think of God’s laws, do they seem oppressive and heavy or do they feel light and freeing?

What creates the difference in the way that we receive or experience God’s laws? What is your image of Jesus as a “law-giver”?

How do you think Jesus would like for you to imagine Him?

Spiritual practices are activities that we experience joy in doing and spiritual disciplines are activities that we choose because we know that they are good for us. Another category of activities is our response to “laws”. A law, in our spirituality, is something we obey not necessarily because we find joy in it, and not necessarily because we understand that it is good for us, but we obey  because we believe that God asks us to. 

A law requires obedience, submission, and surrender. In some cases, we obey even though we may not understand. The Old Testament is known for the 10 laws (commandments) that God gave Israel. Jesus said that He gives us a new command, a new law, which is to “love one another” (John 13:34, NIV). It seems as though Jesus knew that at some point, neither our self-control nor our spiritual joy would be enough motivation for us to consistently practice a healthy spirituality and so He reserved the right to simply command us to obey. 

Commands are important for several reasons. First, a command from Jesus takes away our need to understand and be in control of our lives. It forces us to face our own limitations and give up being in charge of our lives. Second, a command from Jesus relieves us from certain responsibilities; it frees us to simply obey and let Him be responsible for the results. Third, a command from Jesus orders our relationship with Him; though He may desire us to be His friends, we must always see Him as Lord. 

Our spirituality, how we connect with Jesus, will never be healthy without some awareness of His Lordship. As Lord, Jesus knows the importance of obedience, but Jesus doesn’t want our obedience for His benefit; He knows that our obedience always works towards our own good. It is perhaps significant that in the Old Testament there were 10 cardinal laws whereas in His teachings, Jesus reduced these to two simple commands: love God and love others. Even in this statement we see a difference in how Jesus understands the “law.” Jesus could have said, “obey God and respect others.” But Jesus instead uses the verb “love.” In a way, 

Jesus redefines the understanding of “law” from something we do out of fear to something we do out of love. In both cases we do what we do because Jesus asks us to do it, but Jesus’ desire is that we obey His requests not because we feel we must in order to please Him but rather because our love for Him compels us to obey Him. A healthy spirituality will include some laws. And the healthier we become spirituality, the less will our response to His laws be about obedience and the more will it be motivated by our love for Jesus. 

Jesus knows that there are inherent dangers in the use of laws in our spirituality. One is that we may become overly focused on obedience, causing us to lose the love in our relationship with Him, and maybe even causing us to become resentful of His demands. A second danger with the use of laws in our spirituality is the tendency towards legalism. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day exemplified this danger as they made the law the foundation of their spirituality and became judgmental of others. 

All spiritual activities, (practices, disciplines and laws), are given to us to help us connect with and grow in our relationship with Jesus. All of these have great potential to develop our spirituality, but each includes dangers. It is important that we continually ask ourselves, “Is this connecting me to Jesus?” “Is this helping me grow to know Him better, to love Him more and to experience His love deeply?”