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Why do we have laws if no one is going to obey them? I see a lot of people who show by their actions that obeying the law is a matter of “…if I feel like it” rather than “We must obey the law!”
Have you been watching the baseball season as it came to a close? Do you enjoy watching a good game of football, hockey, basketball or soccer? I wonder how those games could be played if the players obeyed the rules like most of us obey the laws of God? There would be absolutely no game. So many of the things we do on this earth require obedience to some set of rules. Try driving somewhere and not staying on the road or not stopping at intersections where there is a stop sign or traffic signal. You’ll soon die! Try taking something from a store and telling the cashier that you don’t want to pay for it so they can’t make you.
Our world runs on obedience to some sort of rule of law. When we live by that rule of law, we have harmony, peace and freedom from fear. When we decide that the law is not relevant to us or we want to excuse ourselves from obedience, we experience pain, loss, suffering and we often cause pain, loss or suffering on someone else.
Today, many people are advocating that, “you can obey what’s right for you, but don’t make me live by the same law”. What’s the problem with this kind of mentality?
1. When there is no standard that applies to everyone, there is no standard. It would be like one team saying that they don’t want you to tackle them, you have to play “touch” football, but they can tackle you as hard as they want, even to the point of causing injury, if they feel like it. This is most profoundly illustrated in the area of sexual morality. God says that sex is for marriage between one man and one woman. Any other kind of sex is wrong. Some people want to believe that it is okay for them to have sex outside of marriage and no one has the right to tell them that what they are doing is wrong. Some want to have sex with someone else against that person’s will. They don’t care that it is against the law to violate that other person’s rights.
2. If we don’t have a common standard that all agree with, we have no law at all. Then why even bother to have a government, courts, law enforcement (police), army, etc.? If you can decide for yourself what is right or wrong and there is no absolute standard, we quickly degrade to a society of survival of the fittest where I must kill you before you kill me. That is self-destructive.
3. Trying to make up our own laws to live by is like trying to play a baseball game, but making up the rules as you play. ‘If I don’t want to run to first base when I hit the ball, I don’t have to and you can’t put me out.” Or “I get to swing until I hit the ball. You can’t call strikes on me.”
That kind of mentality won’t work.
So what “absolute standard” do we live by? Some will advocate that some governing body makes that standard and enforces it. The problem is that many differ on who that governing body should be or how they should operate.
The only “absolute standard” that will work for everyone is to return to the Creator of the universe and all that is in it and live by His standard. God, being all powerful, all knowing and all present, designed this world to live by a standard that is universal to everyone. He is not a God of wrath who wants to punish the disobedient, but a God of love who wants to have a loving relationship with all mankind. In order to do that, He set up a way that we could be forgiven of our lawlessness by believing in His Son, Jesus Christ, repenting of our sin, confessing Jesus as our Lord and Savior and initiating that declaration of heart, mind and soul by the act of being immersed in water in Jesus’ name. (Some will insist that it be “…in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit”, but that is really a matter of semantics and not a part of this discussion).
Jesus says, in Matthew 7:21 - 1 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
God’s will is summed up in the Great Commandments. Matthew 22:36-10 – 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
When we do things God’s way, we receive joy, peace, forgiveness, hope, better health, happiness and a better relationship with everyone around us. When we do things God’s way, we are better workers, citizens, husbands or wives, neighbors and friends. When we do things God’s way, we avoid many of the problems that come with sin and doing things “my way”.
Likewise, when we do things our way, we are fraught with guilt, fear, condemnation, health problems, and much more. Our way is always selfish and it often times hurts us and other people. God’s way recognizes that “it’s not about me” but about how I can help you have a better life. Our way leaves us lonely, insecure and searching. God’s way fulfills us with knowing that others have been helped by our actions. God’s way is satisfying, rewarding, uplifting and kind.
One other thing: Trying to get the government to legalize that sinful activity will not make it right, remove the guilt and shame or alleviate the consequences. Ask any woman who has had an abortion to try to cover up her sexual immorality. She knows she did wrong by having sex outside of marriage and she further complicates in by killing her baby before it is born. Unless she has clouded her mind in self-destructive sexual immorality, she will tell you of considerable guilt and shame in knowing that she killed her baby. Legalizing abortion by our government did not remove the fact that abortion is murder and not God’s design. It did not relieve the guilt and shame on those who have aborted their baby.
Let’s put Jesus Christ back on His rightful throne and live our lives as if He is the ultimate rule maker. Let’s cry for our government to return to God as their highest authority in making the laws that govern our land. Let’s return to being a nation of laws (based on God’s standards) instead of a people of lawlessness and selfishness.
God bless America!
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