Tag Archives: God’s Ordinances

Fostering God’s Kingdom

Epiphany
February 8, 2017

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:1-8

You have commanded your precepts
   to be kept diligently.
O that my ways may be steadfast
   in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame,
   having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
I will praise you with an upright heart,
   when I learn your righteous ordinances. –Psalm 119:4-7

Rules, laws are created to reduce chaos and bring order to life. They often streamline our reasoning. Have you ever pushed your grocery cart to the end of an aisle and encountered two other shoppers with carts resulting in a game of etiquette tag? What may be frustrating or amusing in the grocery store is dangerous in cars on a street. So, we have ordinances to streamline our need to figure out what to do. Right goes first and red stop signs mean a complete stop and yield. Yellow yield signs mean slow down, look both ways, and proceed with caution. I understand the placement of these signs even speed limits are based on the science of probability. Rules are developed to cause the least damage with the most efficient movement of traffic. Such laws change based on the science. I received a speeding warning to prove it. The speed limit on the street to my house was 30 miles per hours for the first 20 years I lived here. One day it was 25 miles per hour and I had not noticed the new sign.

God’s laws also provide productive shortcuts to wholeness. They too are modified at times to conform to changes in society. For example, the processing of food to protect from disease has advanced, the importance of eating healthily and taking care of our bodies still exists. Some rules stand the test of time, like the Ten Commandments. Discerning God’s productive shortcuts to wholeness, oneness, and justice remains an imperative in our lives, if we are to meet our responsibilities in fostering God’s Kingdom.

Prayer: God enable us to keep your ordinances more diligently. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the new Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.