End

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4

End – The Beatles almost got it right.  On Abby Road, the boys sing, “and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make“.  Almost, but not quite.  God’s perspective is a little different.  And in the end, the love you give will never equal the love you were given.  To think otherwise is to live under the law of love.  And Paul tells us that Christ has ended all legalism as a way of appeasing God.

I am certain that this concept will radically alter our lives, if we can only grasp what it means.  I know that I spent years believing that Christ died for my sins, but acting as though God accepted me on the basis of my behavior.  I struggled with this tension.  Back and forth I went, confessing my sins, feeling relief, sinning again and feeling despair.  In spite of my belief that Christ died for my sins, I was stuck thinking that God measured His love for me based on my actions.  I had forgiveness without grace.

Are you living with the McCartney-Lennon law of love?  Do you think that God only gives you His love according to the measure of your love?  Paul shouts out the truth.  No set of rules will ever be the pathway to God’s grace.  There is only one all-sufficient, completely finished, all-embracing act of Love and it has already been accomplished in the death of Christ.  You got 100% of God’s love as a gift.  You didn’t earn it and you don’t have to earn it over again.  God’s love is not equal to what you do.

Paul uses the word telos.  It means “goal, fulfillment, or termination.”  While there are scholarly debates over which meaning applies here, the message is clear.  Jesus is the end of any attempt to work our way into God’s grace.  Jesus is the end of every effort that makes us think we need to become more acceptable to God.  Jesus puts an end to every form of rule-keeping in order to be loved by God.  It’s over!  Celebrate.  God accepts you, not because of what you did or what you will do, but because Jesus stopped the frantic human effort to get good enough.  Jesus did it all.

Today:  Every road I travel today will remind me that in the end, God’s love took care of it all for me.