This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

Heb. 8:10

If you were to wake up tomorrow morning and say, “Okay… Deep breath, me! Today I’m going to be MYSELF! I know I’ve said it before, and I’ve screwed it up, but this time things are different! I will be MYSELF really good today!” That would be weird. You don’t think about it, you’re already just you. It’s your nature to wake up and be you without any thought or strenuous effort.

God’s laws written on our hearts is meant to be the same.

We’re not supposed to think about it; we’re not supposed to stress about it; we’re not supposed to TRY OUR BEST to keep it. The implication of it being written on our heart is that it’s been brought from the external list written on stone that have have to externally keep track of, and now it is internally written into our nature. He has made it who we are when we wake up in the morning.

If I wake up in the morning and have to try really hard to be “myself,” it’s a good indication that I have no clue who I am. And if you wake up in the morning and have to try really hard to get yourself to obey God’s law, it’s a good indication that you have no clue who he is.

Law Written on Stone vs. Law Written On Our Heart

The difference between law on stone and law on heart is that those with law on heart are no longer keeping track or score. Since his desires are written on our heart, and since we know who he is by faith in Christ who has become the wisdom of God for us, we what? “uphold the law by this faith.”

It’s why elsewhere Paul tells Timothy that “the law is for the unrighteous.” Why? Because the unrighteous don’t know the father. They need the list of rules to tell them how to behave good because they don’t know the goodness of God. Therefore when Christians put all of their focus on the list of rules instead of the goodness of God revealed in Jesus, they are inadvertently confessing to be the unrighteous  who don’t know God.

The gospel isn’t an invitation into more committed rule-keeping. It’s an invitation to finally (and once again) know God. Now, the side-effects of that relationship include the good moral living, but the primary goal is to get us back to right relationship with the Father. Why? Because “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

You cannot behave yourself into becoming a good tree. First you must make the tree good, and only then will it begin to bear good fruit. The only one who can make a tree good is the one who tends to its branches–the gardener. That job does not belong to humans, but to Jesus. The only job of the tree is to submit its branches to the sheers.

But the sad reality is this: Jesus didn’t say “eternal life is good behavior.” Yet, many Christians keep the rules, but they don’t know him. Those who think their obedience and rule-keeping is what gets their foot in the door of eternal life are the same ones to whom he says, “depart from me, I never knew you,” in Matthew 7. They have a high score when it comes to the good behavior and obedience written on stone, but they have failed to enter into eternal life: the γινώσκω — the knowing, the relationship with him. They are bad trees (having rejected the life that comes through the only true vine) with plastic fruit. That is to say that by all outward appearances their fruit looks like the fruit of the righteous, but it is worthless for consuming. It’s pleasing to the eye, but detrimental to the body.

Behavior Birthed From Relationship

That’s domestic abuse and psychological manipulation 101.

I cannot be around a caring person for extended periods of time without their caring-ness rubbing off on me in some way. Similarly, I cannot be around a good God without his goodness rubbing off on me.

The moral behavior is the fruit, not the tree itself. Jesus is the Tree. “Remain in me,” says the Tree, “and you will bear good fruit.” That’s not a challenge, he’s just explaining the cause and effect.

The word “bear” in John 15 means “to carry.” Therefore the implication is that if we remain in him (the vine), we will carry the fruit produced by the life that runs from him and through us us (the branches).

What is the implication of one who does not bear fruit? The same as the implication of a branch that has not remained connected to the tree. No life flows through that branch because it has no relationship with the tree (it’s life source).

Since I am merely a branch, I can’t ever hope to produce fruit on my own. But even plugged into the vine, if there is any blockage between the life of the tree and the branch (unbelief is usually the only blockage), I will not bear fruit. The only way to bear fruit is for the life of the tree to flow to through me. The end result is that fruit is produced by the vine apart from my efforts, but like a branch on a tree, I still get credit for it because I’m part of the tree.

We can dive deeper into John 15 another time. But do you see the difference? The bearing of fruit is not an effort towards good deeds, but a resting from the effort to produce fruit, abiding in relationship with the one true vine, and carrying the fruit produced as a natural result of that connection.

In other words, the fruit of morality and good behavior is merely the consequence of relaxation and receiving life from Jesus. If I am TRYING to get the fruit, then I can be certain I am failing to receive the life that he so eagerly wants to give. The consequence of that is the treadmill of religion, that I will never see the fruit that I say I’m trying so hard to produce for him. And if I judge myself based on my ability to bear fruit, I’ll have no choice but to start taping plastic fruit to my branches, so at least the other branches won’t think less of me.

And that right there is the business of dead religion and why it’s so profitable. It is the stand in the market that sells fake fruit to those desperate to fit in. It’s detrimental to the health of anyone who tries to eat it, but at least you can’t tell the difference between it and the real thing from far away. The outward appearance is good enough for many Christians. But that superficial pretend-relationship with God is one of the main gripes Jesus had with the religious devotees of his day.

He settles for nothing less than authentic, and there is no greater expression of authenticity of God and man, than Jesus himself.

So what is the solution to all of this?

anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Heb. 4:10-11

Be a branch. Rest, relax, and let the life that comes from the true vine run through you. Remain in the trust of that life, learning to be patient along the way, and you will bear much fruit. It’s the rush to have something to show that causes us to settle for superficial substitutes. Be like Jesus then, and settle for nothing less than the authentic. Because bearing the authentic fruit of the vine is the most authentic you there is. It is the only you there is when you are in him.

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