The Potter's Vessel - "Rules!"
Writer Author Carmen Rockett
Christian Column
:
Devotionals
- Fiction No
I remember thinking when I was a child, “I’ve had it! I’m tired of all the rules! Don’t climb on the furniture, brush your teeth twice a day, wash your hands before every meal, and never go to the pond alone. Stupid rules! I want FREEDOM!”
At one point, I even left home for a couple of days. I stayed with a friend without my parents’ knowledge. Imagine their panic when I never showed up after school! It’s not that my parents were abusive or unkind in any way; I just hated rules.
When I returned home after school the second day of my little fling, they slapped a grounding on me before I could blink! I might as well have been in stocks in the town square!
But my parents loved me with a love I didn’t merit. You see, I was their rebellious child, their prodigal. They took the time to explain to me that the rules were for my benefit and for the protection of others. Rules were like a strong railing on a second story balcony.
Years earlier my family lived in a comfortable, unfinished two-story home in the gorgeous Black Hills of South Dakota. We continued to build as we were able. One day, Mom took me with her up to the second story to put some papers in a chest for storage. When she was finished, she turned to go out the door and down the outside stairs connected to the balcony. Being a silly, thoughtless goose, I began to back out the door.
“No!” She screamed and lunged for me, to which I responded by jerking backwards away from her.
I can’t breathe! was my first conscious thought. I struggled and gasped for air, gradually regaining my senses to find that I was on the dining room table surrounded by my sobbing brother and sister, my mother and a neighbor. “She’s alive!” Came my mother’s voice.
I had backed off the balcony, unprotected by the rules of life. The absent railing couldn’t give me life, yet it would have benefited me and protected me.
God’s laws are like the railing on a balcony. They don’t SAVE us. Galations 3:11 tells us “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident.” However they benefit us.
Consider one of the Levitical laws concerning using animals for food. “Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals you may eat.” Scientific research has proven that eating animals not included in this category poses serious health risks. We do not sin by eating pork or horse meat, yet if we observe this law for the sake of our health, we find lasting earthly rewards.
Jesus freed us from the bondage of the law, whether it be Levitical, Mosaic or otherwise, yet in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus established the law with these words:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17, 18 NKJ
And Paul asks, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” Romans 3:31
So today, or tomorrow, when we see some poor soul we might have previously labeled “legalistic”, we can love them and be reminded that Christ reaffirmed the law for our good. I have come to believe there are very few who are truly legalistic in that they are attempting to earn their salvation by works. I believe they are simply living in obedience to which they have been called, as they understand it.
And when we see some poor soul taking apparent liberty with their freedom in Christ, we can love them, knowing they are living unto the Spirit as they understand it.
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1
Come, fellow travelers, let us set our foot to the path, keeping our eyes on Christ, who is the perfect law, walking in His likeness, and not comparing ourselves to others or others to ourselves.
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