Wednesday, February 20,
2008
How Will They Know
Series
Deuteronomy 5:1 “Moses summoned all
of
Follow the
Rules
In life it is important to follow the rules. We
try to teach our children to do that when they are small. We want
them to be safe and we know if they break certain rules, they may be hurt.
However, sometimes deliberately we all break the rules.
I am well aware of the traffic laws. I know
that if I read a speed limit sign that means the car I am driving is not to
accelerate past the printed limit posted on the sign. Last week I
was coming back from a funeral that was out in the country. The person I was
riding with said, “Chip, how fast will your car go?” I said, “Let’s
see!” It was going somewhere around 120 miles per hour when a
logging truck in the other lane pulled out to pass the car just ahead of
it. My whole life flashed before my eyes as the car was breaking and
making a loud noise. I learned how fast a car will stop that is going
around 120 miles per hour. Interestingly, the fourth car behind the
logging truck just happened to be a State Trooper.
God has rules for us to follow. If we violate
those rules there are consequences that we usually incur. Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are books of the Law. They told the
Jewish people things that they weren’t supposed to do. For instance, God
had many laws about foods they were supposed to eat and not eat. In that
day, God’s prohibitions about food seemed arbitrary. Now because our
knowledge of hygiene, parasites, and illness we know God’s advice was with sound
reason.
God gave us the Ten Commandments. He calls human
beings to follow these rules. If we break them we pay a price for
that. The rules basically concern two things - honoring and respecting God
and keeping our proper boundaries in our relationships with others. I have
seen people break God’s commandments and what happens is that in the end the
people who broke the laws were broken themselves. God did not bring this
brokenness into their lives. They incurred the consequences of not
following God.
I can guess my car will actually go faster than 120
miles per hour. I suspect, the other person in the car and I will give
pause to breaking the rules, should we ever think this is something we want to
do again. I also believe that if my wife reads this devotional she might
have something to say about my speeding. Actually I may be driving her SUV
and she may be driving my Z car back and forth to her Assistant Principal job in
Bay Minette.
Prayer:
Dear God, help me to obey the rules and trust the
confines you set and the confines set by society. Amen.