We had a good analogy at the Winter Conference. Imagine you're going down the highway, on your side, following the speed limit (or as close as you usually do), and suddenly a semi comes straight down the road at you, going 80 miles an hour. He's obviously doing the wrong thing, and you're following all the rules. You might think it's his responsibility to avoid you, and you'd probably be right. Dead right. The point being, following the rules isn't always enough, is it?
I don't know about you, but one think I always heard from my mom growing up is "I can't tell you everything you can't do. I have to teach you what you should do." Of course as a kid, that's not fair at all. If I don't know I'm not supposed to do something, how can I be in trouble for doing it? I believe that's what rules are about. Think about most of the Ten Commandments. All these "thou shalt not"s. We get some ground rules for living right, but are following all of those enough to be a 'good person'. No, not really. We should follow them, but there are plenty of ways to sin without breaking lying or stealing, aren't there?
That's what I'm starting to open up to in my faith right now. The rules are the very first step in living right, and they're a relatively small step in the whole journey. This morning at H2O, I got this message straight from Jesus in Luke. Chapter 10 if you want to take a look, I won't copy it down here. It's the parable of the good Samaritan, but we're taking a look at something that isn't pointed out as much. At least I'd never heard or thought about it before today. Go ahead and read it through, starting at verse 30. Done? I hope so. We get the picture of loving your neighbor, of helping people, and that's a great thing! But you don't need to hear that part from me.
The first two men that pass by, the priest and the Levite. As is, we might think these people were busy or didn't want to trouble themselves, but it's a little deeper than that. Priests and Levites were some of the highest and holiest people among the Jews in that day, and these people are just coming from Jerusalem, the holy city. They want to stay pure by God's law. You can find in Numbers 19 (the latter half specifically) that touching a dead person makes a person unclean. These men saw a collapsed body on the side of the road, and their teachings said they should go around it. Think about this!! If you are paying attention, this should be blowing your mind! I'm bouncing around in my own head still from this morning. The priest and the Levite were following the Bible, they were obedient to the very word of God...AND THEY WEREN'T DOING THE RIGHT THING. This example is straight from Jesus! What?!
This is the next step! The rules aren't everything! Rules don't define Christianity, no matter how much we try to make them sometimes. Following Jesus is about LOVE. If we love our God and we love everyone, the rules fall away in an instant. It's so simple, and it's just like Mom wanted. If you live right, you don't need to worry about the rules! If you love your neighbor, are you going to want to steal from him? Lie to him? Kill him? I daresay no, unless you have a vastly different sort of love than I know.
This isn't just my extrapolation here, take a look:
Matthew 22:37-39 - Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "
and here's the real kicker:
verse 40 - "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
So don't just take my word for it. Don't just take my word on anything, please. I'm just a guy, trying to do the best he can. Questions, comments, insults, anything, throw them my way. I want to hear from you all too. Grace and peace be with you all.
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