I remember talking to a friend of mine who is a Christian teacher. For several years he was the principal of a Christian grade school and when we would get together, we’d love to talk shop. One of the things I remember him saying was how he responded when someone said to him, “This or that should be happening at a Christian school.” And he would reply, “You’re right. But the difference is that at this Christian school I can talk to them about what God says about this or that.”

    But the truth is…they’re right. Christians are supposed to live to a higher moral standard—everyone is, even if they’re not a Christian. And yet we don’t. And when we don’t, when we make a misstep in our Christian life—when we sin—there is a whole world of critics ready to catch us doing wrong.

    But that’s not really what hurts the most. What hurts the most is our own conscience. That’s that little voice inside of us that’s ready at every moment to tell us how bad we are and how far short we are of where we should be.

    Should should should! What is “should”? Should is rules. Should is the standard. Should is the law. So what if I told you the law didn’t matter anymore? What if I told you Christians are the lawless ones? 

    We can become motivated by what we should be doing. I have to go to church; I have to be nice to others; I have to be a better parent, child, student, employee, boss. That’s all true; God does want those things for us. But the really bad part is when we start living as if that is the ONLY way we can make God happy, it becomes true. If we want to keep the whole law to make God happy, then we had better do it all.

    And that’s why God had to obliterate the law. Your record of sin was crucified with Christ. You were crucified with Christ. Your sins, your violations, you rule-breaking, it all died there on the cross. Can you hear those hammer blows pounding Christ to the cross? That was for you. Each blow of the hammer was your sin being pinned to a cross so it could be punished once and for all. There is no punishment for sin anymore. It’s been wiped away forever.

    The condemnation of the law, which still tries to cry out against us, has been obliterated. You are not a victim of the law. You are not a victim of your own disobedience. Christ was the victim and you are set free from the law. In that sense, you are lawless.