I don't know about you but sometimes I get a little nervous when trying to make the right choices. It always seems like no matter what I do or say someone inevitably comes from the bushes and cries foul, especially when it concerns morals or what the bible says. What I found out is the bible goes way beyond the 'don't kill your neighbor' or 'don't covet his backyard grill'. In the Old testament alone there has been 613 "rules" counted and that just the first 4 books. Just the other day I was wondering if I was washing my hands correctly, now I know. What if you found a recipe for goat (I know, bear with me) and it says to boil that goat in it's mother's milk. First, that's just gross and second...well, there is no second. You follow the recipe exactly as written. Come dinner time you call the family in, sit down at the table and admire your delicious mother's milk boiled goat (yuck). You then hear a knock at the door, it's the police. These guys mean business. They rush into the dining room, confiscate the goat and arrest you. What just happened? Well, you broke an old law mentioned in Exodus 23:19 “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk." Looking for some reasonable explanation to why this was a law came up with several things. I'm never gonna do it, and to be honest with you I don't care why you can't. I'm sure it had some health reason attached to it, either way, it's in there.
Sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming and I lose focus on what's really important. The cool thing about God is He's not sitting on the throne waiting for us to fail. Yeah sure, it's gonna happen and I bet He even expects it. God loves me just the same no matter how much of a jerk or failure I am. Now don't take that as a 'once saved always saved' statement. If I screw up, and I will, I will be disciplined. Isn't that how things are anyway? When my youngest daughter doesn't clean her room, there are consequences. If I don't finish an assigned task at work in the alotted time I face consequences. Why would God be any different?
In my small group we're reading a book titled "Gospel"। It mentions in chapter 2 that we have to be careful to not replace our sin with Holy Acts। Sure God wants our repentance and see our lives change but He doesn't want us to fill that void with mindless acts. It talks about several popular "churchy" things to do, join a small group or help out at the homeless food kitchen.
If we're not careful we can turn our sinful lives into 'spiritual business'. For instance, a daily regiment including bible reading, praying, tithing or even sharing your faith can be turned into an idol. I really like this guy because he spells it out in simple terms. Anything can be an idol. An idol is defined as anything that can separate you from God. Unfortunately our sin is the same, it's just had a facelift. That's not saying these things are bad, it's just saying to do these things for God out of love.
What can we do? Simply love God. The first commandment says, you shall have no other gods before me. Hmm, if i don't have that one then what makes me think I'm doing all the rest? Answer: get this one and all the rest simply fall in place. He wants your love, He wants to be first in your life.
Peace...
totalheel
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