When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. (NLT)

Do you have a rebellious child? One that, if given a set of rules to follow, will make it their mission to break every one of them? Maybe you have a rule bender, constantly testing the boundaries to see how far they can push the line without major consequences? Maybe you know adults like this, or you are this person, living by the motto, “Rules are made to be broken,” or “It’s better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.”  

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The Christian university I attended had several rules that were designed to keep students safe and aid in the resisting of many forms of temptation especially attractive to college freshmen, away from their families for the first time. A young lady I knew made it her mission to break as many of the school’s rules as possible without getting kicked out. Without digging into why she believed this was a good choice, it should be noted, on some level, we ALL have some form of this rebellious nature. For her, the rules took away her fun and made her want to do all the “forbidden” things even more. Her motive to comply was skewed by the lure of things she was missing.  

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Today’s scripture reminds me of that rebellious streak that is within us. Although God’s laws are far more important than school rules, the desire or temptation to break rules is our sinful desires at work within us. We want forbidden things even more, just because it is forbidden. Young adults who have obeyed their parents’ authority until they no longer live under their roof often “go wild” out on their own because they no longer have the motive to obey. Their rebellion reveals they never loved the rules they lived under; they just didn’t want the consequence of not obeying them. Without the love for God, we get stuck in our rebellious cycle with laws we could never keep, growing ever more agitated by the expectation we cannot live up to. In these verses, Paul is pointing beneath the surface to something else: motive. Motives matter.

In Romans 6:4, we learn we are buried with Christ through baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. The old way of life, the “rule following,” is gone, and the sinful motives of rebellion have been replaced with the love of the Father, the acceptance of the sacrifice of the Son and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now the desire to obey is Spirit led, empowering us to live righteously. The devotion to God is no longer about a list of rules with a punishment attached at each failure. It’s a deep gratitude that we get to understand God’s ways and his why, for our good.  

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God has only ever been interested in our heart posture. In “the new way of living in the Spirit,” we can see that God’s law not only shows us we fall short of his holiness, but it was also intended to keep us from self-destruction and doing things God deems as harmful to us.  Without the Holy Spirit living within us and interpreting all that we cannot possibly understand on our own, we would grow ever-more agitated by our inability to live up to the standard of perfection. Like the young lady at the University who lived a life of secrecy, scoffing at rules – she increasingly rejected their importance instead of growing in agreement with their value. I am so thankful for the new way of the Spirit. I can live in agreement with God in how he says to live and joyfully obey because his Spirit within me has given me this understanding.  

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So, what are your motives? Are you still living in rebellion, trying to get away with as much as possible without a consequence? Is fear of the consequence driving your obedience? Or, is the Holy Spirit revealing to you the value of living God’s way, guiding you to joyfully obey? I pray you’re relying on God’s Spirit within you so you can sit with God today in gratitude that you are no longer captive to the letter of the law, but that you live, instead, in love of God and in agreement with his way.

Lord, we thank you for your love for us and the indwelling of the Spirit within us. Thank you for loving us enough to know we cannot live by a set of rules but need your Spirit to have the desire to serve you. Help us to confront our rebelliousness and love you with our obedience. Amen.