Skip to main content

The Law

         Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. (Psalm 119:1)

 

I was reminded yesterday morning of a “homework assignment” to read and meditate on a verse of Psalm 119 per day. Gulp. I don’t know if I’m going to make you suffer through that. Maybe a verse or two, depending on the text itself. The Law is the theme of the chapter, so it would be wise to begin by defining it. What is The Law? For some, it’s the Ten Commandments. For others, it’s every single, itty, bitty, legal and cultural commandment ever mentioned in the Bible, taken out of context and slammed onto everyone. There are even some who have added hundreds of additional rules and regulations.

Whenever I think of the Law, I think of the episode from West Wing in which the president nails an egotistical conservative woman with minutiae from the Law. For instance, should we refuse to eat pork or ham? Should we not eat shrimp? Should we wear clothing that is only made from one sort of fiber? Should we stone kids who are disobedient to their parents? We could pick out lots of aspects of the Law that we don’t even think about not breaking. But Jesus claimed the summary of the Law was to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Acts 5 and Acts 10 make it clear that there are aspects of the law that are not to be imposed on Gentile believers.

So, what is The Law? My definition stems from the idea that natural law is the way that the universe works – how things properly relate to one another and themselves. The Law is the set of descriptions or directions about how we should relate to God, to other people, and to ourselves.

So, it is not “Blessed are those who…walk according to an arbitrary set of commands given by God as an excuse for His abuse of us.” Instead, it is “Blessed are those…who walk according to directions on how we should relate to God, to other people, and to ourselves.” Well, of course! How could it be otherwise?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more