“I will walk about in freedom,” says the psalmist, “for I have sought out your precepts” (vs. 45). How does obeying God’s law make us free? Most people would not associate freedom with an obligation to obey a law. It depends, however, on how you see the ‘law’. I have pointed out that, for the psalmist, “the law”, or the “precepts” of God, was not simply understood in terms of rules to restrict one’s behaviour. Rather, God’s Word, was like a user’s manual. The more functional we are the more liberated we are. The Scriptures show us how to become functional human beings. And, when we function well, we are able to live more productively. Your best future lies not in what you achieve now but in who you become. Don’t just invest in external progress therefore (i.e. business or educational success, career promotion, financial gain, etc.). Invest in internal growth, that is, becoming a more purposeful, loving, peaceful, selfless and generally more functional person. Whatever you gain externally will not be of any use if your internal growth is not keeping ahead of your external progress. Internal growth without external progress still leaves you richer. External progress without internal growth will only make you more dysfunctional. To be dysfunctional is to be inhibited. So let God guide you, through his Word, to a more functional way of living, then you will be free.
Ask God to show you an area of dysfunction in your life that he wants to deal with.
Read Psalm 119:41-48
