Tag Archives: Laws

The Prime Directive

African proverbLiving in the Spirit
June 9, 2016

Scripture Reading: Galatians 2:15-21

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! –Galatians 2:15-17

Laws exists to bring order out of chaos, to identify actions and activities that promote the Common Good into becoming universal practices. Thus, laws are fluid, they are adjusted to changing times and circumstances. Laws about where to hitch our horses may still be in statute but have, in general, been rendered unnecessary. Whereas, how, where, and how long we park our cars is very important. Whether we follow a law depends on many things. Some of us just do it automatically, others seek what they can get away with, and still others apply laws more practically based on the current situation.

God’s laws may be described in the same manner with the one exception that such laws are based in our relationship with God. Based in the sure and certain knowledge that we are each loved by God and that our best expression of response to that love is loving God in return and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. This raises the pursuit of the Common Good to a higher plain where our decisions become interdependent. Love rules. We are called to become a majority who lives like Jesus lived, loves like Jesus loved,and moves the world toward wholeness in the process.

It is indeed a call to move mountains when we feel like tiny ants, each trying to move a piece of sand. God’s call to wholeness can only be fulfilled by God’s grace that serves as the sinew knitting us all into one Body with the guidance of the Holy.

Prayer: Lord, help us as a society to work together to assure the Common Good for all in response to your prime directive to love. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights
reserved

Rule One: Love God

Living in the Spirit
July 10, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:1-11 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death….To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.— Romans 8:1-2, 6-8

I have never once questioned Paul’s sincerity; I have at times wished he could express it in fewer words or perhaps shorter sentences and that the words he used had the same meaning for us today as they did for him. (As a writer, I could probably learn from that advice also.) Flesh for most of us is another word for skin. Indeed skin is the largest major organ in our bodies, but we view it in a more functional way than the word Paul sought to describe the state of people without Christ. “Human nature” might today come closer to describing what Paul meant by “flesh”.

Neither flesh nor human nature is a negative term or phrase but both can get us into trouble at times. We are told today that vitamin D is important for good health, and a really good source of vitamin D is the sun. We also know that too much sun on our skin can result in cancer. Just like our desire for the world’s greatest tan, under the guise of getting vitamin D, may have dire consequences, our human nature can otherwise lead us down paths of self-destruction. The people of God in the first century got so caught up in obeying the letter of those laws they failed miserably at living the spirit of the law, where loving God is the most important rule in their lives. The law had become the god they worshipped. If a little obedience to the law is good for us just think what a lot could do, no matter who it hurt or who it causes us to ignore.

We do that still today. God’s answer to them is the same answer for us.  God sent God’s Son to strengthen our bond with God, to let us know that God will always love us, and to again stress with us that our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is the way to an abundant life. Everything else will fall into place when we commit to that level of loving God.

Prayer: O Love that will not let us go, draw from us the love that you planted in us at creation and make it radiate throughout the world to all your children. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.