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Why I Need The Boot

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (Galatians 3:24-25) 
         Sometimes, I just have to laugh at what God does. This morning, as I explained to people who haven't talked with me over the past couple weeks, I shared my suspicion that once the doctor gives me permission to go back to wearing a shoe on my left foot, it's not likely I'll refrain from doing things I probably should not do. The boot reminds me that I'm supposed to be restricting activity levels. It makes it difficult to do things I shouldn't be doing.  A good pair of walking or work shoes would probably protect my foot nicely, but it would be required to protect my foot from a wider variety of circumstances. As much as I want to be rid of the boot, there's part of me that knows me too well. That part of me says, "Keep the boot."
       In one of my Sunday School classes, we're discussing Romans, and part of the discussion had to do with the purpose of the Law. One of those purposes, as described in today's Scripture, is as a tutor, teacher or guardian. Its job is to instruct us when we're doing right and wrong, and teach us to do right. The teacher went on to describe two abuses of the Law, one being legalism (thinking that keeping the law is our means to please God) and the other being antinomianism (license, the idea that we have salvation and therefore we can do whatever we want.)
        As I said, I have to laugh. My boot is the Law. It tells me what I can and can't do. My shoes are, at least at the moment, license. None of us keep the Law. I have done things in my boot that I should not have done. No one may have said specifically that I should not do them, but I knew I should not have been doing them and I did them anyway.  I'm thankful for the boot, however, because I know that without it, I'd be doing even more that I shouldn't.  If you've never worn an air cast boot, think of the comparison between wearing hiking boots and flip flops.
          So, why did God allow me or cause me to tear the ligaments and tendons that connect my toe to the plantar plate? Because by doing so, He was helping me explain that the reason for the Law is to proscribe limits in order to prevent damage that would occur if we wore only our consciences, or perhaps no moral code at all.  It was never meant to heal us, any more than a cast actually produces healing, but properly used, it promotes the sort of behavior that will allow healing to occur.
 
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Birthday of
James Buchanan Eads
 

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