I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law. Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.
Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. Psalm 119:163-165, ESV
To love a law may Seem strange; but it is the only true divine life.
- To keep it because we are afraid of its penalties is only a form of fear or prudential consideration.
- To keep it to preserve a good name may be propriety and respectability.
- To keep it because it is best for society may be worldly self interest.
- To keep it because of physical health may be the policy of epicurean philosophy.
- To keep it because we love it is to show that it is already part of us — has entered into the moral texture of our being. Sin then becomes distasteful, and temptations lose their power.
— W.M. Statham, quoted in “Atictoilette Commentary on the Psalms”, 1879.
