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One of the promises of the new covenant that Jesus made was to write God's laws on our heart (Je.31:33). For Israel, the old covenant was through laws written on stone, concerning their external behaviour. For example, as long as they did not kill someone or commit adultery they were acceptable. But now under the new covenant, even if we 'just' hated someone in our heart or lusted after someone with our eyes, we would be guilty (Mt.5:21,22;27,28). What God desires for us is a life that is pure at the level of the heart, and He offers to help us with that. He helps us when we are tempted to sin, and then if we fall, He is willing to forgive us (He.4:15,16).

Remember, the real good news that Jesus came with is that, as our Saviour, He can save us from our sins (Mt.1:21). In the last letter that God inspired John for us, He reminds us that what He wants us to do is to stop sinning. At the same time, He knows that as weak human beings we may fall, and He has provided for that also (1Jn.2:1). But as the godly man of old, A. W. Tozer, wrote, "Every man is as holy as he really wants to be."

Some Christians have only heard of forgiveness of sins, and that is all that they look for. Sometimes we are unwilling to pay the price of having to deny ourselves when we are tempted to please ourselves, even when we know clearly what the Lord wants us to do (Lk.9:23). There are Christians who say that as long as they kept the Ten Commandments, God will be happy with them. But if we want to go beyond the laws of external behaviour and start judging ourselves concerning our thoughts, desires, ambitions, motives, attitudes, etc., we will begin to seek God for that kind of salvation. God will not disappoint us, because that is the pathway of holiness Jesus has prepared for us. Of course, as long as we are on this earth, carrying with us our sinful nature which we have inherited from Adam and Eve, we are not going to become without sin or failure. But the difference is that we will be able to see a progress from year to year. Sins that we were in bondage to earlier cannot now hold us down, and we are able to enjoy the freedom even within our mind to become more and more pleasing to our Lord. His laws are getting written into our heart, replacing the laws of sin and death we had earlier.

At this level of life, we find ourselves making choices within our heart concerning things that did not bother us before. The Lord Jesus becomes more important to us than other people, things and even our own self-life. For example, selfish desires for pleasure, attention, appreciation and applause become things we now learn to lay on the altar, and now we choose to seek for God's kingdom and His will in everything. We become content to make sacrifices in secret without drawing attention to ourselves. We pay attention to what God thinks of us, and become content with Him, even when people misunderstand or ignore us. Our goal now is to fulfil Ga.2:20.

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