S12P11 – The testing of faith: abiding by the perfect law

James 1:25
But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].

Jesus is the fulfillment of the law [Matt. 5:17]. In his perfect living without deviation from the commandments that reflect the holy character of God, we now look not to the law for our righteousness but to Christ. Through him we have salvation, which is forgiveness and freedom from the punishment due us according to the law, the punishment borne by him in our stead. But what is the law of liberty that is now the perfect law?

The perfect law taught by Jesus is the law of love. In Matthew 22, He tells us that the entire law and all the prophets, all that He himself would fulfill, could be summed up with this instruction: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind [and] love your neighbor as yourself. And in following the perfect law of loving as God has commanded us to love, then we naturally would follow those commandments. Jesus’s adherence to the law was only possible because He loved in such a manner.

The perfect law, the law of liberty, is one of loving as God commands us to love. When we are faithful to love according to this law, the word implanted in us bring forth God’s blessing and favor. We obey God because He deserves obedience, honor and praise, and not because He rewards us. In his goodness, however, his joy in our obedience manifests as his blessing over our lives. Father, increase our love for You and for other people, that we may faithfully and instinctively walk in the law of liberty that Jesus Christ has made available to us.