Movin' on over, not movin' on out

Hey Y'all out there who read this blog.  This will be the last post here :(  I've decided to join forces with some friends of mine over at the Cross-eyed blog, so from now on you can find my articles over there, along with some by other like minded people too :)

All in good time Sam

 

Imagine a world where a very few get very rich and live long happy lives with everything their hearts desire while most people struggle to live day to day and are exploited by the rich who don’t care if they live or die. That’s the world of the movie In Time but it’s not really that hard to imagine is it? Really it just sounds a lot like our world. 

It seems things will stay that way forever until a hero comes along… with the strength to carry on… and that hero is Will Salas. After a stranger gives him wealth beyond his wildest dreams Will decides that he is going to change the world because he’s sick of watching his friends and family die too young. For the rest of the movie he spends his time doing that and to a certain extent he succeeds. He tries to make the lives of the poor longer and more prosperous by being a Robin Hood of sorts; stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor leaving himself just enough to do it again tomorrow. 

We all root for him and forgive him for his stealing because deep inside we all want justice; we realize that exploiting people for your own gains is wrong. But something troubled me about Will Salas and his need to save the world. It wasn’t until one of the most powerful people in the world said to Will “You might upset the balance for a generation, two, but don't fool yourself. In the end nothing will change, because everyone wants to live forever. They all think they have a chance at immortality, even though all the evidence is against it.” That’s it! That’s the problem! We all want a hero to set us free from oppression but this freedom will only ever be temporary because what’s wrong with the world is not what’s outside of us, but what’s inside us; our heart. 

If we are given something, some wealth in this world, we only need to look around to see that most of us would not become like Will Salas. We would either become like Will’s friend who frittered his wealth away quickly and died as a result or we would use our wealth to exploit or ignore the poor and climb the ladder to riches. 

 But even those of us who are happy with our comfortable lives still have problems, and we yearn for a saviour to set us free from the troubles of this life, just like the people in the time of Jesus. Jesus announced to the people that He was the saving King they were waiting for and automatically they thought “oh you’ve come to set us free from the Romans who are oppressing us and keeping us poor and downtrodden. That’s the kind of saviour we want! All hail Jesus! Life is going to turn out OK after all.” But Jesus did not come to earth to be that kind of saviour. Instead Jesus tells the people a story about a rich man who stores up wealth for himself and thinks “great! Now that I have enough wealth I can relax and do this, that and the other thing.” But God says to him “You fool! Tonight your life will be required of you.” And that’s the problem with saviours like Will Salas; they do their thing and life is good (for a while), but there remains an enemy waiting patiently for everyone which neither Will Salas or you or I can do anything about; death. 

What we need, but don’t want, is a saviour who will not necessarily rescue us from oppression and suffering in this life but who will save us from ultimate suffering – death and God’s judgment. Only Jesus, the suffering servant King who purchased our eternal life by giving up His life, is that kind of saviour.

Honest Greeting Cards: Mother's Day

My daughter - the inventor of the honest Mother's Day card:

Her love for me is ever so slightly conditional and though I try hard, my love for her is ever so slightly conditional too, I'm just not as honest as her about it!  I'm so thankful that we both have a heavenly Father whose love for us is totally unconditional because of the work of His Son for us.

some of the best shirt under sweater action you'll ever see

Who wants to die right? Not me. What makes death bearable for a lot of us is that we don’t have to think about it most of the time. It always seems so much further off than things that are happening day to day and we can put off thinking about it. I’ve often wondered if people who are closer to death, like people in their 70 and 80s, do mental calculations about the short amount of time they have left and if it frightens them. I wonder if it will frighten me when I reach there (if I reach there). 

Harold Crick is a man who’s like most of us, just going through life and not really thinking about death, until one day his life is invaded by a voice from the heavens that begins narrating his life. The voice is scarily accurate and he wonders what is going on. One day his watch stops at the bus stop. He resets it to the time on one of his fellow commuter’s watches and the voice says “Little did he know that this simple seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death.” Harold yells “What? What? Hey! HELLOOO! What? Why? Why MY death? HELLO? Excuse me? WHEN?” 

This scene sets off a chain of events where in absolute panic he tries to find a way out of his fate. Harold is thinking “I’m not ready! I haven’t thought about it, I’m not prepared! I’ve got the rest of my life to live” even though his life had actually been pretty rubbish up to that point. 

To not fear death like Harold does, seems stranger than fiction. But this is the very gift that Christians have; of being able to look toward death with hope. 

Hope in death?  Yes, the hope that death is not the end, but only the beginning of something much better than what this life has. In this life we struggle with sin; sin that others do to us, sin that we do to others, sin that happens on the news and sin that torments us inside. Life is a battle that is hard and full of temptations, heartache and then you die.  The hope the Christian has in death is that we will not be forgotten after we are eaten by worms, but that we will be raised again and made into something new.  New life in a resurrected body that will not sin or ache or break down but will go on forever in a place that will have no more pain, sorrow or death and we will be with our great saviour forever! 

The more Harold Crick investigated his death and what it would mean, the more he came to terms with it, and when it was time, he was ready. (spoiler alert!!) At the end of the movie, the author of the book about Harold’s death explained why she changed the ending; “Because it's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die. And then dies. But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive?” There is something noble and beautiful about someone who gives up their life for sake of others. Watching Harold willingly go to his death just for the sake of a good story brought a tear to my eye.  

And then I thought of Jesus. 

He was not corrupted by sin as we are; he did not have to die. He could have lived forever on earth making our lives better by constantly doing miracles and helping others but ultimately it would do us no good, we would still die in our sin and receive God’s just judgment. Jesus willingly went to his death to give us so much more than a good story - forgiveness for our sins and life with him after death. Three days later He rose again and waits to receive us into his eternal kingdom when our heart gives out or we are hit by a bus. 

 - best romantic pun of all time in this movie too.

the unlikely tale of Jonathan and Charlotte

watch this first...            

 

This video’s been doing the facebook rounds lately and I thought I’d add to the giant recycling bin that is the internet by linking and commenting on it.

The story of Charlotte and Jonathan struck me as an amazing illustration of grace.  Firstly Charlotte shows grace (unmerited favour) by loving the unlovable Jonathan.  In doing so she discovers there is much to love in Jonathan that no one else has discovered because they were busy judging his outward appearance.  Her love gives him the courage to do the outrageous – sing in front of millions of people and submit himself to their judgment.

What the millions discover is that he is an astounding opera singer!  But at 4min50 along comes the personification of law (the standard) himself; Simon Cowell.  He tells them “Charlotte, I think you’re good; but Jonathan, you are unbelievable, you are a future star… but I’m worried that Charlotte is going to hold you back” to which Jonathan replies “we came on here as a duo and we are going to stay as a duo.”

Jonathan was tempted in that moment to dump Charlotte to gain the world but what does he do?  He gives up the world to keep a friend and support her – he gives grace back to Charlotte at the expense of himself.  This is profound love and it reminds me so much of Christ who gave up the world to gain his enemies and at the expense of his life. 

And the verdict is...

"The Christian is the man who no longer seeks his salvation, his deliverance, his justification in himself, but in Jesus Christ alone. He knows that God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him guilty, even when he does not feel his guilt, and God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him not guilty and righteous, even when he does not feel righteous at all. The Christian no longer lives of himself, by his own claims and his own justification, but by God’s claims and God’s justification. He lives wholly by God’s Word pronounced upon him."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Life together
(thanks to Mockingbird blog)

Why accepting free stuff is so hard

Have you ever gone out for coffee with a friend and had that awkward moment at the till which goes a little something like this:

The friend - “I’ll get it”

Me – “no, it’s OK I can pay for mine”

Friend – “no, I insist. I don’t mind”

Me – “are you sure?” (hasn’t put wallet away yet)

Friend – “I’m sure. Go find us a table”

Me – “OK, I’ll get it next time”

I told you it was hard to accept free stuff, and you didn’t believe me, did you! In our relationships we feel most comfortable when we are equal to the other party. We don’t want to be the charity case who everyone is always helping along. If someone does something nice for us we feel guilty until we have returned the favour.

Jesus told a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee lists off a whole lot of things he has done for God; he fasts, he tithes, he doesn’t cheat. He believes that he and God are tight because God does good things for him and then he returns the favour. But the tax collector just breaks down in fear and sorrow before God; he is worried because He knows that God is holy and good and he is bad. There is no way he could start to even up the relationship and so he cries out for God to have mercy on him. And God justifies him (makes the tax collector right/perfect in His eyes). 

As Christians we know that we should be like the tax collector because in the end he is the one that God approves of. But we don’t really want to be the tax collector because deep down you and I actually act like the Pharisee! And how can I make such a bold claim? Well, when someone buys us a coffee we fight that free gift. We want to be able to contribute something towards it. We can’t just take it for what it is. And we treat our relationship with God in the same way. His unconditional embrace of us sinners seems like an offer that is too good to be true. So we fight it, always wanting to give something back, and feeling guilty when we fail. But God does not need anything from us, least of all our filthy good works. He freely gives us all His good works and they are enough. 

So when you are feeling down because you failed yet again to make yourself acceptable in God’s eyes, be comforted that your relationship with God is 0% dependent on your contribution and you are 100% acceptable to God because of Jesus Christ. So relax! Rest in this good news and savour it’s sweetness like free cup of coffee.

The person you need is...

Have you and your family seen “Nanny McPhee”? Well if you haven’t then shame on you ;)

(**Spoiler Alert**) 

Mr. Brown’s children are monsters and have driven away over 15 nannies. He is at his wit’s end until he is visited by a mysterious stranger who calls herself Nanny McPhee. There’s a scene in the kitchen that’s a vivid illustration of Romans 1. The children have tied up the cook and are up to all sorts of disgraceful behavior when in walks Nanny McPhee. With a thump of her magical cane the children are unable to stop what they were doing. Their naughtiness escalates until they are about to do something that even they realize is horrific. She has given them over to do whatever their shameful heart’s desire and they must live with the consequences. 

As time goes on and Nanny McPhee shows her care for the children their perception of her changes. What at first they thought was an ugly, old, unwanted spoil sport slowly becomes an attractive, loved lady. 

When I didn’t know much about God I struggled with an “ugly” perception of His character. He seemed judgmental and unreasonable. How could it be fair that He chooses some for salvation and not others? That didn’t seem right. I didn’t like him very much at all. But as I saw the great love this “unlovable” God showed me by dying for me despite my rebellion against him He became more attractive to me. Now I see that He has given me the Bible and good teachers who teach me about Him and the better I know Him, the more I love Him. 

Unlike Nanny McPhee who had to leave when the children no longer needed her, Jesus has promised that He will never leave me, nor forsake me and I’m thankful for that because I know there’ll never be a time when I no longer need Him.

Whoomp! there it is: a sermon by Jesus

A friend and I have been going through the book of Luke and we got to Jesus’ first sermon: the sermon on the plain. At first reading it’s like “So Jesus is a great teacher huh? What on earth is he talking about?” Here’s my two cents…

I think the sermon is one of those three point deals. The first point is a description of two groups of people: true and false prophets. What is a prophet? Someone who tells others about God. This section is a reversal of the Deuteronomy blessings and curses. In Deuteronomy the obedient people are blessed and the disobedient are cursed. But Jesus says that the “disobedient” people who realize that they have nothing to offer God, weep over their sin and are persecuted by men because they believe in Jesus will be the blessed ones. The “obedient” people who think they are making it in God’s eyes and teaching others that they can keep God’s laws are loved by men but they will be cursed by God.

Then Jesus goes on to lay down the heaviest law you have ever heard on his listeners; Love your enemies, give to those who steal from you, do not retaliate when you are insulted, give away your stuff, don’t look down on others, forgive others. All this law comes with a large side helping of hardcore self examination: look at your heart, is it good or evil? You correct your neighbour for tiny sins but you have a huge log in your eye called self righteousness etc. Just when you can’t take it anymore Jesus finishes the sermon with the “two builders” parable.

If you obey all of the law Jesus has just laid out, you will be sitting on the “solid rock” of righteousness (perfection). When God’s judgment sweeps through like a flood you will be safe. But if you examine yourself and you have broken any of it then you will be swept away like a man who builds his house on sand when a flood comes. Well I’m screwed, so much for Jesus meek and mild.

But this is not the end of the story. Go back to section 1. Doesn’t Jesus start the sermon by saying that the person who knows they are on sinking sand before God (poor) and weeps over their sin will actually be blessed by God? Huh?

Yes!  And Jesus can say that because this sermon is not the end of the story. Jesus' whole reason for coming to earth was to look for people despair because they can’t keep His laws, then save them and He’ll do it by dying on a cross. His original listeners don’t know about this yet but we do! On the cross He took your sinfulness and gave you His righteousness. So if you recognize that you are on sinking sand because of your sin and you put your trust in Jesus to save you from God’s judgment then you are actually on solid rock and blessed because you wear Jesus’ righteousness! You are safe!

I think legendary 90’s hip hop group Tag Team sums up Jesus’ description of God’s kingdom best:

“Upside down and inside out

I’m bout to show all you folks what it’s all about”*

(*If you click on the link be prepared for some bad language)

Happy New Year everyone ;)

Dance Monkey, Dance!

Head under water

And they tell me to breathe easy for a while

The breathing gets harder, even I know that

Made room for me but it's too soon to see

If I'm happy in your hands

That’s the first verse from “Love Song” by Sara Barielles. When Sara wrote these lyrics she felt like she was under pressure from her record label to write a popular love song so that they would continue her career. The resulting song speaks about her resentment at being put under pressure to perform to others expectations, OR ELSE!

Sara nails the nature of human relationships, especially when it comes to business. Why is it that so often celebrities crash and burn? (Charlie Sheen anyone?). Perhaps it’s because their relationships with their agents and the press are conditional. The major condition of these relationships is that the celebrity is expected to sustain certain level of performance and if it is not achieved then the celebrity will find themselves dropped like a hot coal into the oblivion of D-list status. They are slaves to obey the law of “perform or see you later”. 

Maybe we’ve experienced this when someone we thought was a friend abandons us when we let them down.

The solution to this problem isn’t “choose your friends better” or “perform better” but it’s that there is someone out there who loves you despite the fact you don’t come anywhere near his required standard of performance. He once said to those who felt like they were drowning because of the burden of their sinful hearts “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We can be happy in His hands because He demands nothing from us; instead He did it all for us.

The limited power of the law

"While the law guides, it does not give. It has the power to reveal sin but not the power to remove sin. It simply cannot engender what it commands. The law shows us what godliness is, but it cannot make us godly like the gospel can. The law shows us what a sanctified life looks like, but it does not have sanctifying power as the gospel does. So, apart from the gospel, the law crushes. The law shows us what to do. The Gospel announces what God has done. The law directs us, but only the gospel can drive us. It’s very important to keep these distinctions in mind.

The operative power that makes you a Christian is the same operative power that keeps you a Christian: the unconditional, unqualified, undeserved, unrestrained grace of God in the completed work of Christ. As I said, the banner under which Christians live reads, “It is finished.” So relax, and rejoice… You’re free!"

Tullian Ttchividjian
From Jesus + Nothing = Everything 
thanks to Mockingbird blog for the link...

I want you to friend me. NO! I demand it!

We finally got around to seeing The Social Network. It’s the 40 percent true story of the beginnings of facebook.com and a fascinating study of human nature; in particular our overdeveloped sense of entitlement.

**Spoiler Alert**

The movie reveals the plot by flicking between past events and the inevitable court case. Basically the Winklevoss brothers sue Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their social networking website idea. It appears Mark Z started his own social networking website whilst employed to create one for the Winklevosses. Mark Z claims his “The Facebook” bears little resemblance to the idea the Winklevosses had pitched to him, but they try to sue him anyway. 

All of us have a sense of entitlement; that is, what we think the world owes us. It’s easy to deny it until someone uses your idea first then makes a shed-load of money out of it. Thanks to the legal system, you can try to get what you think you deserve even though you did no work to earn it. As the US Circuit Court of Appeals said when the Winklevosses’ appeal failed this year "The Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace” 

Human entitlement rears its ugly head with regards to God also. When we get sick, lose a job, lose a family member, become victims of a natural disaster etc, our first reaction is to cry out “Why me God? I don’t deserve this! Why do bad things happen to good people? How could you allow this to happen to me God?” We believe we are good and so God owes us only good things. In reality we are not good and God owes us nothing (just ask Job). Shocking I know! 

We live at God’s mercy. Every breath we take is because He allows it. Every good thing God has given us is because He is gracious, merciful, kind and patient. His goodness towards ungrateful human beings is shown to us in His Son Jesus Christ. Imagine if Mark Z gave Facebook to the Winklvosses (valued in 2010 at $41 billion). He would be broke, and they would be richer than you or I can ever imagine. So much more than this, Jesus Christ gave up everything He was entitled to (His place in heaven where He owned the whole world), to come and be born beside an animal feeding trough, to suffer and be killed at the hands of His own creation, so that He could give us something we don’t deserve – forgiveness of sins and eternal life with Him.

Rugby is all right

From an article written by my Hub at the cross-eyed blog:

 "The press will say “New Zealand Won!” but the country didn’t actually do anything. It was those 15 men who represented the rest of us. They were the ones who broke through the strong defense. They were the ones who held back the strong offence. They were the ones who scored the try and the penalty kick needed to win the game. All we could do was watch and cheer them on, and yet we somehow receive the glory. New Zealand wins! The All Blacks represented us, and we all receive the spoils!

In Christianity this is known as ‘Imputed Righteousness’. A big fancy term that just means – Jesus won the game for us! God’s standards are high. He expects us to be perfect; to never sin; in short - to love God above everything else, and to love others more than we love ourselves. If we are honest then we know we are unfit for the kingdom of God. We don’t have a chance. The sin team is wiping the floor with us."

...now click on the link above and read the good news at the end of the article!

Why is scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz a zombie?

Answer: Because he’s looking for a braaaiiiinnn.

Zombies are so hot right now. Apparently the zombie apocalypse is upon us… I haven’t seen any zombie flicks myself because I’m a big chicken. I’ve been told Shaun of the Dead is hilarious and I kind of want to see that one, but its probably not going to happen. For now I’ll just stick to the zombies that Paul talks about in the Bible. What? You didn’t know? Check this out:

Paul tells us in Romans 7 that a Christian’s old nature is dead, but the weird thing is even though our old nature is dead; it keeps bothering us. Paul says “I have discovered this principle — that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this body of death?” Sounds like a zombie right? - A creature that’s dead but keeps coming back to life to bother us (and eat our brains).

In your typical zombie movie the hero generally carries a shotgun and often resorts to a baseball bat, axe, or other type of blunt instrument to defeat the hordes of the undead. (Well at least that’s what it looks like in the trailers).  Does Paul offer us a weapon to defeat our old, dead, zombie part which keeps springing back to life? He sure does! Though it taunts us; “go on, take the cookie… just park on the yellow line, everyone does it… oooo you are so bad for parking on the yellow line, aren’t you supposed to be a Christian?... God doesn’t love you anymore, see how bad you are…” and causes us to cry out like Paul “Who will free me from this body of death?” We can answer Jesus Christ our Lord!

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Your zombie problem has already been taken care of. Did Jesus die on the cross for sinners? Yes. Are you a sinner? Yes. Then He died for you and you are perfect in God’s eyes. He does not condemn you. He is always pleased with you, you belong to Him. You have been made alive in Jesus Christ.

From the Lutheran Files...

From C. F. W. Walther's epic lectures "Law and Gospel; How to Read and Apply the Bible"

"...the essence, of a Christian - that which makes a person a Christian - is that he knows how to seek his salvation in Christ and thus to escape the Law."

Paul says God's law has the power to condemn us because we don't keep it but when Christ died for us He freed us from the law's power.  He did this by taking the punishment we deserve for breaking the law upon Himself "Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin... if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

Don't eat the French Fry

 

An excerpt from The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement found on Mockingbird:

"You can tell people not to eat the French fry. You can give pamphlets about the risks of obesity. You can deliver sermons urging them to exercise self-control and not eat the fry. And in their nonhungry state, most people will vow not to eat it. But when their hungry self arises, their well-intentioned self fades, and they eat the French fry. Most diets fail because the conscious forces of reason and will are simply not powerful enough to consistently subdue unconscious urges."

The law is powerless to save you from yourself.  You need to be changed by someone outside of yourself.  "The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit." - Paul in his letter to the Romans.

 

Don't worry, be happy (or else)

From the November 2010 issue of Australian Vogue:

In the article “Happiness is overrated” writer Elizabeth Heathcote comments on positive thinking “My beef is less with the details of positive psychology and more with the way it functions. By lending academic credence to the idea that we can be better, shinier and happier if we just try, it has turned happiness into not only something we should expect, but yet another must-have commodity that you are failing if you don’t achieve”.

Happiness is a gift, a result of something good that has happened to us. We cannot manufacture it. It is pure gospel – something that is a result of something happening to us. When we try to turn it into law – something we must do, “don’t worry, be happy”, then we miss out on it.

Can I hear an Ephesians 2:8-10 out there people?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

The Rodfather rulz

"A friend of mine was walking down a street in Minneapolis one day and was confronted by an evangelical brother who asked, “Brother, are you saved?” Hal rolled his eyes back and said, “Yes.” That didn’t satisfy this brother, so he said, “Well, when were you saved?” Hal said, “About two thousand years ago, about a twenty minutes’ walk from downtown Jerusalem.” This is the gospel message. It’s just as important for Christians to believe for their sanctification as it is for pagans to believe for their justification; for it is the same message, the same salvation, the same work of God. It’s just as important for the evangelical church today as it was for the reformers in the sixteenth century. Without this simple, but mind-boggling message, there is no hope, not for the sinner nor for the saint."

Dr Rod Rosenbladt (The Rodfather) on Gospel Coalition blog

I have Mantrol Issues

I did a lot of driving on the motorway last weekend and I saw quite a few policemen on the road. One thing I always notice with myself and other drivers is how everyone's speed drops by about 10km/hr at the sight of a police car. The sight of the law convicts us.

But what’s more interesting to me are people’s reactions to the amount of Police presence on our roads. Whenever there is a news item about speed cameras or Police check points, reporters always seem to be able to find someone who says “What a waste of taxpayer’s money. Why aren’t the Police going after real criminals?” It is easy to downplay our sin when it doesn't seem to hurt anyone.  "I'm in a bit of rush, why won't this guy get out of my way, I'll just overtake him, it's only a single yellow line."  But who knows when our next "little" offense will be ours (or someone else's) last?   In 2010 over 300 people died on New Zealand roads.  Many of the road deaths were caused by overall good citizens who in one crucial moment choose to be careless and break the law with devastating consequences.  Hence the Police concern about the issue. 

God’s standard for measuring our goodness is infinitely higher than our own. Jesus commands us to “Love our neighbour as ourselves”. If I truly loved my neighbour I would follow the 2 second rule, I would keep to the speed limit, I would drive to the conditions, I would not allow myself to be distracted by my mobile phone etc, etc, etc. But my actions show that I do not love my neighbour as I should, rather I love to rush when I am late and many times I feel like I am the most important car on the road. 

The Police will not forgive me for my traffic offenses (and rightly so.) I'll have to pay the fine,  but my offenses against God are much greater, with a fine too great for me to pay.  Its such good news that someone else has already paid this fine for me and I am no longer under Gods condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4)

For another article on the effect of the law on our behaviour: Steeler's James Harrison and the Law