God Can Do

...God has done what the law ... could not do ...

 - From Romans 8

The law could not make us happy. It cannot heal us. It does not make us wealthier. It does not make people like us. It does not remove bad people from our lives. It does not make music. It does not create art. It does not build. It does not serve others. It does not take care of widows, orphans, and aliens. It does not inspire us to keep ourselves pure. It does not draw us near to God. It does not make us pursue Christ. It does not give us eternal life.

It keeps us looking over our shoulders. It makes us second-guess everything we do. It makes us compare ourselves to others. It condemns us, and others. It breaks us down. It wounds us. It makes us feel guilty. It makes us hate ourselves. It makes us resentful to God. It places our most urgent priorities away from Christ. It weakens us. It sickens us. It kills us.

It gives us the clearest cause-and-effect lesson possible, as to why we are mortal creatures. It explains why we die. It explains why doing wrong, is wrong. It treats us all absolutely equally, with justice.

The law is equal and just to all of us, for none of us can escape it's verdict (guilty) and it's penalty (death).

But it is merciful . . . it has made it so that sin, and selfishness, and hate, and injustice, and inequality will not continue forever, in God's universe.

But the law does not save us. It only condemns us. It defines us, the way we naturally are.

But through Christ, God has redefined us, as we really are. We are members of God's family, that are loved by Him unconditionally. We are willful, noble, dignified beings that may be prepared for never-ending fellowship with God and each other. 

We all long for eternal life. The Law does not do that for us. No law does that for us. No government, no politician, no doctor, no teacher, no professor. 

But God can do all of that for us. The law came first, to clarify the need. And then God sent a new law - the law of the spirit, the law of love and of life. God sent His Son to do what the law could not do: bring life and love everlasting.