Throwing the baby out with the bath water

During the last six months or so I've made it a point to dig into the Old Testament.  I remember reading Psalms; you know, the book you read with worship music in the background, coffee by your side and a smile on your face.  Even if you had a bad day, just read you some "smite 'em Lord" verses and all is well.  Well, I stumbled upon the following and it resonated with me --

Oh, how I love Your law! 

It is my meditation all the day.

You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.

David LOVED the law! He thought is was sweeter than honey.  WHAT?! Leviticus sweeter than honey?!? David, are you sure we're talking about the same law?  Mind you, I finally made it through the book of Leviticus. I had to!  After reading this I made it my personal commitment to get through this book.  It took me almost three months, and for a moment there I thought David was not thinking straight when he penned those words.  When I finished Leviticus I walked away with this thought -- there are not enough goats, bulls, rams, doves, pigeons, nor grain to atone for my sin! I would've run out of items to sacrifice in record time.  Words cannot describe how thankful I am for God's gift of grace; His unmerited favor on my life.

Since I've been on this topic of Truth vs Grace, I thought about this and how the church has taken Matthew 22:37-40 and literally "thrown the baby out with the bath water."

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus came to fulfill the law, NOT to abolish it!  Romans 13:10 says that "love is the fulfillment of the law."  The sense is that all that are in the law and prophets are consistent with, and dependent on these things and are "comprehended" in them, and cannot be separated from them.

This is all too familiar to me.  I watched my mother "throw the baby out with the bath water" when she left the Catholic church and joined a cult.  She was desperately seeking "freedom in Christ."   Through a series of many unfortunate events known as my life, I too have learned that true freedom, like David put it, IS in obeying the law.  David spoke of how keeping the law gave him understanding and kept him from evil.  When he didn't obey, he suffered some severe consequences - as we all do.  We are to love God above all else, and likewise love one another; HOWEVER, just as David so eloquently put it, he who loves God delights to obey His divine precepts.  There's a balance and we shouldn't be caught cheapening it by throwing everything under the rug "in the name of love."  We are to love God by loving His precepts.