Daily Meditation

Exploring the Boundaries of God’s Law

Ligonier Ministries

The Westminster Catechism defines sin as “any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God.” We notice here that sin is defined both in negative and positive terms. The negative aspect is indicated by the words “want of conformity.” It points to a lack or failure in moral performance. In popular terms it is called a sin of omission. A sin of omission occurs when we fail to do what God commands us to do.

The positive aspect of the catechetical definition of sin refers to overt, actual stepping over the boundaries of God’s law. It is a sin of commission.

Sometimes God expresses His laws in negative terms (do not …) and sometimes in positive terms (do …). The Ten Commandments contain both forms (do not steal; honor your father and mother).

Both sins of omission and sins of commission are real sins. They incur real guilt. When we do what God forbids, we are guilty of a sin of commission; when we fail to do what God commands, we are guilty of a sin of omission. In both cases the law of God is violated.

Coram Deo

Prayerfully examine your life for sins of omission or commission.

Passages for Further Study

James 4:17
Psalm 51:1–3

Daily Meditation

Reaping the Benefits of the Law

Ligonier Ministries

Let’s continue the experiment we began in the previous meditation. Study the excerpts from the apostle Paul that accompany this reading. Does this sound like a man who believed the law of God has no place in the Christian life? Read Paul’s writings carefully and you will find a man whose heart longed for the law of God as much as David’s. 

The law drives us to the gospel. The gospel saves us from the curse of the law, but in turn directs us back to the law to search its spirit. The law of God is still a lamp to our feet. Without it we stumble and trip and grope in darkness.  

For the Christian, the greatest benefit of the law of God is its revelatory character. The law reveals to us the Lawgiver. It teaches us what is pleasing in His sight. We need to seek the law of God—to pant after it—and to delight in it. Anything less is an offense against the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Coram Deo

Pray this prayer: “Thank You for Your law, which is a lamp to my feet. Give me a heart that longs for and delights in Your law.”

Passages for Further Study

Romans 7:8
Romans 7:12
Romans 7:22

Daily Meditation

Longing for God’s Law

Ligonier Ministries

A survey by George Gallup Jr. revealed a startling trend in our culture. According to Gallup, the evidence seems to indicate that there are no clear behavioral patterns that distinguish Christians from non-Christians in our society. We all seem to be marching to the same drummer, looking to the shifting standards of contemporary culture for the basis of what is acceptable conduct. What everybody else is doing seems to be our only ethical norm.

This pattern can emerge only in a society or a church wherein the law of God is eclipsed. The very word law seems to have an unpleasant ring to it in our evangelical circles.

Let’s try an experiment. Read the passages from Psalm 119 that accompany this devotion. Try to crawl into the skin of the writer and experience empathy. Try to feel what he felt when he wrote these lines thousands of years ago.

Does this sound like a modern Christian? Do we hear people talk about longing passionately for the law of God? Do we hear our friends expressing joy and delight in God’s commandments? 

Coram Deo

Do you long passionately for God’s law? Do you express joy and delight in His commandments?

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 119:97
Psalm 119:11–12
Psalm 119:131

Christian Political and Legal Doctrines

If Man Be God, What Then?

What is the "Christian view" of politics and politicians, of governors and rulers?  During and after the time of the Reformation this question was debated and argued through by the Reformers and throughout the general Protestant world.  

The central political doctrine of the Protestant Reformation was plain and straightforward:  there is only one Sovereign over all mankind, the Lord Jesus Christ.  All human kings and governors are ministers of the self-same Christ, and must rule in subjection to Him.  This meant that the Divine Law was king. 

When Samuel Rutherford, the esteemed Puritan preacher wrote an extensive thesis on kings, politics, government and justice he called it Lex Rex: "the law is king".  The "law" in this case was not secular, but Christ's law.   In around 1551 a Puritan preacher called John Ponet published A Short Treatise of Political Power.  He had been appointed Archbishop of Winchester in 1551, but was later forced to resign by Queen Mary in 1553.

Here is Ponet's doctrine of kings and civil rulers and magistrates:

Daily Meditation

Rediscovering the Law

Ligonier Ministries

Israel’s reformation came via a rediscovery of the law, which created a brief awakening to the bankruptcy of a corrupt nation. As a young man, King Josiah began the process of reformation with a spiritual purge, a cleansing of pagan elements from the religious life of the nation. 

A few years later, Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. A scribe brought the book to King Josiah and read it to him. The result was dramatic: “Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes” (2 Kings 22:11). 

Josiah was awakened to the greatness of the wrath of God. He realized that God had been pouring out that wrath on the nation of Israel. He further understood that this divine judgment on the nation was a direct result of sin.

The most apparent immediate change in the national reform of Israel was seen in the restoration of true worship, a worship purged of idolatry and rooted in a sound understanding of the character of God and of His law.

We need a new discovery of the law of God and the Word of God in our land. Yes, it needs to be rediscovered in the public square—but even more importantly it must be rediscovered in the house of God. 

Coram Deo

Renew your personal commitment to the Word of God. Start today!

Passages for Further Study

2 Chronicles 35:3
2 Chronicles 34:3 
Psalm 119:92

Daily Meditation

Reaping the Benefits of the Law

Ligonier Ministries

Let’s continue the experiment we began in the previous meditation. Study the excerpts from the apostle Paul that accompany this reading. Does this sound like a man who believed the law of God has no place in the Christian life? Read Paul’s writings carefully and you will find a man whose heart longed for the law of God as much as David’s. 

The law drives us to the gospel. The gospel saves us from the curse of the law, but in turn directs us back to the law to search its spirit. The law of God is still a lamp to our feet. Without it we stumble and trip and grope in darkness.  

For the Christian, the greatest benefit of the law of God is its revelatory character. The law reveals to us the Lawgiver. It teaches us what is pleasing in His sight. We need to seek the law of God—to pant after it—and to delight in it. Anything less is an offense against the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Coram Deo

Pray this prayer: “Thank You for Your law, which is a lamp to my feet. Give me a heart that longs for and delights in Your law.”

Passages for Further Study

Romans 7:8
Romans 7:12
Romans 7:22

Daily Meditation

Longing for God’s Law

Ligonier Ministries

A survey by George Gallup Jr. revealed a startling trend in our culture. According to Gallup, the evidence seems to indicate that there are no clear behavioral patterns that distinguish Christiansfrom non-Christians in our society. We all seem to be marching to the same drummer, looking to the shifting standards of contemporary culture for the basis of what is acceptable conduct. What everybody else is doing seems to be our only ethical norm.

This pattern can emerge only in a society or a church wherein the law of God is eclipsed. The very word law seems to have an unpleasant ring to it in our evangelical circles.

Let’s try an experiment. Read the passages from Psalm 119 that accompany this devotion. Try to crawl into the skin of the writer and experience empathy. Try to feel what he felt when he wrote these lines thousands of years ago.

Does this sound like a modern Christian? Do we hear people talk about longing passionately for the law of God? Do we hear our friends expressing joy and delight in God’s commandments? 

Coram Deo

Do you long passionately for God’s law? Do you express joy and delight in His commandments?

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 119:97
Psalm 119:11–12
Psalm 119:131

Daily Meditation

Longing for God’s Law

Ligonier Ministries

A survey by George Gallup Jr. revealed a startling trend in our culture. According to Gallup, the evidence seems to indicate that there are no clear behavioral patterns that distinguish Christians from non-Christians in our society. We all seem to be marching to the same drummer, looking to the shifting standards of contemporary culture for the basis of what is acceptable conduct. What everybody else is doing seems to be our only ethical norm.

This pattern can emerge only in a society or a church wherein the law of God is eclipsed. The very word law seems to have an unpleasant ring to it in our evangelical circles.

Let’s try an experiment. Read the passages from Psalm 119 that accompany this devotion. Try to crawl into the skin of the writer and experience empathy. Try to feel what he felt when he wrote these lines thousands of years ago.

Does this sound like a modern Christian? Do we hear people talk about longing passionately for the law of God? Do we hear our friends expressing joy and delight in God’s commandments?

Coram Deo

Do you long passionately for God’s law? Do you express joy and delight in His commandments?

Passages for Further Study

Psalm 119:97
Psalm 119:11–12
Psalm 119:131