I was running late to get my son to baseball practice before his game, when I noticed flashing lights in my rear view mirror. “Ugh, I don’t have time for this!” I thought.
Upon pulling over, the officer informed me that I had a tail light out and promptly wrote me up a “fix-it” ticket. I wasn’t even speeding for goodness’ sake! Now I was even later for the practice, and had a ticket to boot. I was fuming.
I sat in my car while the team practiced reading my bible, when I stumbled upon a passage in Judges 21:25 “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”
Can you imagine living with no laws? No authority and people doing whatever seemed right to them—how frightening! My mind conjures up images of the mayhem that we’ve witnessed through the news media after a riot or natural disaster.
I was upset about the fix it ticket because I wasn’t breaking the speed law and I didn’t even know that my darn tail light was out. But none of that mattered. I had still broken the law. I thought about God’s laws and how none of us can possibly live up to them at all times. At first blush that seems unfair, like my fix-it ticket.
In Romans 3:20 NLT, Paul says, “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.”
Good grief. Laws to show us how sinful we are seems pretty harsh and unloving. But you see, without the standard provided by the law, there’s no way to measure right and wrong. Just like without a posted speed limit, there’s no way to tell what is speeding and what is not.
The Law was given to quantify God’s requirements for righteousness, so we would know what He expects, and to convince us that without a Savior we can never meet His requirements. Galatians 3:24 puts it like this, “Therefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
And that schoolmaster was perfect and willing to die for my sin(breaking the law) and yours. God’s laws shows us His great mercy, grace, and His desire to protect and save us. His law leads us to Him.
Romans 2:4 NLT “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant and patient God is with you?Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see this kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
We must recognize that God is after our hearts. And you know what? That baffles me. The One who put the world in motion and set the stars in place, is after my heart.
Not only is God after our hearts, but He wants to share His heart with us as well. He didn’t set up a bunch of rules that we couldn’t follow to be cruel. On the contrary, He came to earth in the form of a man to show us the way to Himself. When we sin and we don’t turn to God, it actually breaks His heart.
“SIN is not just breaking God’s laws, it is breaking His heart.” -Adrian Rogers
Seeing God’s law in this way has given me a new perspective. How about you?
Oh, Mrs. Beckie Lindsey. Your depth, insight and your receptive heart to His heart and love for you, and all His children, and your beautiful ability to explain and express it to others, is as much your calling as all your other talents and responsibilities. I’ll never understand truly why, when I meet someone new, I sometimes have this little whisper inside which says, “notice and look into this heart”. I have never been disappointed when that message comes; and this time, May 16, 2015, around 7:30 PM I was allowed my first glimpse to see inside yours; one so very rare. My gratitude to Him for that gift, I’m sure will provide blessings to me from here on. Thank you for the beautiful and timely message today.