Skip to main content

Why?

           These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. (Deuteronomy 6:1-3)

This passage is the lead up to the Shema, where Moses declares that God is one, and that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. If a parent were saying something like this to their child, they’d say “I want you to listen to me, because I’m telling you this for your own good.  You’ll thank me someday.”

And the kid would roll his eyes and think, Here we go again.

How often are we like the kid? Too often, I know that doing something is not a good idea, but I do it anyway. Most of the time, it’s not a big thing. I eat a spoonful of peanut butter or a piece of cheese that I don’t need, or I watch some TV instead of reading, cleaning, writing, or whatever. I’ve listened to people tell me, “I know it’s probably a mistake, but…” and “It’s my life, and you have to let me make my own mistakes.”

I’ve shared the results of studies that show that the family structure that provides the best environment for a man, for a woman, and for their children is the traditional structure of father and mother who remain married to one another and who raise their children as a team. And I get told, “Yeah, but we can’t all live like that” and “You don’t know how abusive (or dysfunctional) my father (or mother) is.”

I may not, but that doesn’t mean that the traditional family is not the best structure. Even if your family can’t be that family, shouldn’t we promote what is best as the best? Instead, the politically correct world demands that we promote and celebrate all the structures that aren’t as good, or that even fail.

God told the Israelites how to live so that they could have the best possible lives. He’s told us as well. Why can’t we at least be honest with ourselves? Why do we have to pretend that we’re not being stupid when we shoot ourselves in the foot by doing things we know won’t help us in the long run?

And why do we insist that others praise us for it? I can't help but think of the movie Ground Hog's Day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more