VS. April 6, 2025 Devotional
April 06, 2025
MATTHEW 5:27-30 | 24 He drove out the humans, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
The proper word for Jesus handling of the 10 Commandments is epithesis, or deepening. He did not come to “change the law” or to abrogate it, but to fulfill the teachings of the law and prophets. He did not use antithesis, or contradiction, He revealed instead the deeper and often harder inner meaning of the Torah. The law against adultery, He teaches, is about purity and holiness in our intimate relationships. It is aimed at aligning our hearts and our actions with God’s values and our best convictions.
Internal purity of thought is hard, and some would say impossible, in our highly sexualized culture. Acknowledging this should not lead us to despair but to prayer and to confession. The first two beatitudes bless those who know their need for God, for grace, those who sense their own spiritual poverty, and who mourn their own failures. The first function of the law, for Jesus, was to demonstrate our need for divine aid—His grace in the form of forgiveness and power.
Why does the law aim at holiness, not happiness?
Gracious God,
Remind me today that You are ready to forgive and bless, empower and purify my mind and heart.
Amen.
