Now most of my training in this calling has been on the job training or the school of hard knocks but I do not have any formal theological training. So in some circles what I think or say doesn't carry much weight. So it depends on what circle you are in on whether what I write next amounts to anything.
If you read my last blog you will know that we started a 90 day challenge at the beginning of the summer. I challenged the people of my congregation to read through the scriptures in 90 days. Yes, you read it right, the whole Bible in 90 days. I am happy to say that approx. 60% accepted the challenge and are diligently reading their Bibles daily. We are now into the NT and have 18 days left. And all praise goes to Him if and when we complete it. Hopefully in 18 days.
OK, back to my struggle. As I have been reading the scriptures through, there seems to be a reoccurring issue with God's people. God rescued them to be HIS people, He gave them a covenant of love and laws to help them become HIS people. He gave them land and told them to go into that land and get rid of everything that would cause them not to be HIS people. The reoccurring issue is that when they get to the land they decide what is best for them and do not get rid of those things. And it is exactly those things that take them away from God and it displeases Him.
My question is: was God being legalistic? Or did He love us so much that He wanted to save us from the heartache that those things would bring into our lives and would keep others seeing the one True God.
Now one of the scriptures that has been stuck in my head from the OT that I read was from the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was trying to get them to help rebuild the wall and he was wondering why Jerusalem was in such ruins. Nehemiah 13:23 "In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people."
As I have been listening to those around me and also reading about others around me, I have to ask myself, are we speaking the language of Ashdod more than the language of our Savior?
Like I said license or legalism, where to stand, ummmmm!
Phil,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. Good things to consider. Here's my attempt at a response.
Do you remember what it was like to take care of your kids when they were infants and toddlers. Everything was, "Don't do this, don't do that...No, no, no...Don't touch the hot stove, Don't stick your finger in the light socket..." LAW! Why does raising kids seems so legalistic and rigid?
My answer in short: kids are stupid and need very rigid boundaries - LAW - in order not to kill themselves when they are learning to walk, and explore. God's people in the OT were infants...they needed rigid boundaries - LAW.
That's the beauty of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34. To me, it describes a "growing up" of God's people, a maturity if you will.
Getting back to my raising kids analogy. No, you loved your kids enough to give them boundaries so they can learn, in many respects by making some of the mistakes they made and still make.
That's where GRACE comes in: Jesus took the punitive nature of discipline - penalty of breaking the law - so we could enjoy a mature relationship having "grown up into Him who is the head.
For what it is worth.