Love, doing more than what is required

Numbers 29:39 (KJV)
These things ye shall do unto the Lord in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.

God commands that these offerings of the feasts are to be given, without forgetting the other offerings that are not confined to particular dates or seasons, such as freewill or vows. What can we learn from this? We ought not always do things in our Christian walk out of compulsion, simply because they are the 'right thing' to do, or because they are part of some Christian 'to do' list. God gave us a free will, so that we would love God and others freely and willingly. When we do the bare minimum, that which is forced, and give which is expected we are not really loving. To love is to go beyond what is required. To love is to surprise the person with a good gift that he was not expecting. This is what Jesus Christ has done for us. His cross was a choice that He made, that eternal life may be given to those who were only expecting death. He gave us more than we deserve. This is why we are to love those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, to hold our peace when we are reviled, to do good to those who do evil to us. To love is going one more mile with those who asked us to go one mile, and giving the other side of the cheek to those who strike us on one side, giving our coat as well to those who ask for our shirt. We don't need to do these things, in terms of fairness. But we do them because we want to go beyond what is fair. We realize we do need to do these things in light of what God has done for us. Doesn't God also always give more than we ask for, and give us abundantly that our cup overflows? We also ought to do the same.

Just as these offerings that were not constraint by time could be given at any time during the year without restrictions, there is no law that stops us from doing that which is good. Read what Paul said:
Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, [23] Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Against love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, there is no law. There are no restrictions or limits to where you can go with these. This is a picture of heaven, where there will be perfect freedom to do that which is good. There are no restrictions stopping us from being gentle or meek and patient. There are also no set times or dates to be loving, joyful or peaceful or faithful. These ought to be offerings given unto the Lord as often as we desire, of our own will, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We also ought to confess our sins to God freely. We ought not to do the bare minimum, and confess our guilt only on Sunday service, or just so that we avoid chastisement. This is not loving God. We ought to offer our burnt and peace offerings willingly at any moment, at any day, that we may be reconciled to Him at all times, even when everything is going right. How many times do we confess our sins when all things finally go wrong, and never when all things are going right? We ought to be like Job, who offered his sacrifices for his children even during feast times. If we have sinned, we can't wait till Sunday to be right with God. We can't wait till we are forced by God, until we come under full conviction of the Spirit. We ought to confess and renounce our sins as soon as possible, that we may be one with Christ again.

Christianity is more than simply following the rules. In fact the Gospel is opposite to keeping the rules. It is realizing we can't nor have kept the rules, but that Christ nevertheless died for our iniquities and transgressions that we may be God's children. Christianity is realizing this grace of God, and living our lives so that our lives willingly glorify the one who died for us. This is more than just keeping the commandments. In fact we see from Timothy what the Law is actually for:
1 Timothy 1:8-10 (KJV)
But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; [9] Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, [10] For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
The law is only the minimum requirement. It is for those who have so far gone away from the standard of God. Law is not for righteous, for those who has been justified by God. For remember the things Jesus said in the sermon on the mount. He did not lower the standards, but He lifted the standard so high that no man can possibly reach it. This is because Jesus Christ is the real standard that is required of God. Read what He said:
Matthew 5:20 (KJV)
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus said we are not just to commit adultery the act, but not even look at a woman with lust. He said not just to murder, but don't even hate anyone or call anyone a fool. He said do good to those who hate you, who do nothing but curse you. Who in this world is that righteous? Nobody. But these are things Christ has done. He didn't just keep written rules, but pleased God in every way, far beyond the law. We ought to tremble at Christ the perfect righteous of God, and see how FAR we have fallen from the glory of God who is Christ. How far have we fallen, then, if we have broken His minimum requirements of the written law! We ought to set our standards HIGH, as HIGH as Jesus Christ. We ought to aim to be like Jesus Christ, and never be satisfied at our righteous standing, for we are evil when compared to Christ. No matter how much we have obeyed the scriptures, we are still lacking compared Him. Let us remember that we are following a Person, not just a written rule book.

However, another thing that we learn from this law is that we ought to not ONLY give unto the Lord that which is from our free will. This is the other side of the extreme. Some Christians are convinced they can do anything they want to please God, while neglecting to do those things that God requires. They forget that Christianity is also about going against our will, and doing the Father's will, even at the cost of losing our lives. It is dying to our will and keeping the commandments of God, to please Him. We are free, yet we are bondservants of Christ. We are slaves of righteousness. Our free will must be conformed and imprisoned by God's will, otherwise we sin against Him. We keep the commandments of God, not because through it we are justified, but because we know He who commanded also gave His life for our sins. We are compelled by His love to do as He commands, knowing that Christ died for our lawlessness.
Let us then lean neither to the left nor to the right. Let us do the one while not leaving the other undone. Christ can help us to walk this supernatural path between legalism and grace-abusing liberality. We can't walk this narrow without the power of God over our lives. Let us trust in Christ, and He will guide us through this walk. Our hope is in Christ. Lord, help us not to lean to any extreme, but help us to follow You. Amen.