I keep having this thought when I see others over-reaching and criticizing the way people are living their lives. “Get your own house in order.” So much of the landscape in America right now is power grabbers attempting to take control of people’s everyday lives by creating over-reaching restrictions and unnecessary laws. Plastic straws being unlawful? Come on! Things like that drive me nuts.
Now I know these are political hot topics, but let’s be real, nobody wants anyone having control over their life like that. Even those who are pushing for it, don’t actually want to abide by those rules.
Let’s take all of that and reflect it on the church.
I believe that the political landscape is not the first place this over-reach has appeared. In fact, I believe it started in the church.
Ouch, again I’ve hit a hot spot. I’m sorry, but I can’t stop feeling God stretching me to speak truth about some of these hard issues.
Let’s look back at the Jewish laws that were put into place before Jesus walked the earth. God gave laws through Moses, and then over time, those in power or places of influence, for reasons unknown to me, continually tacked on one extra law after another. Why is that?
Well, control is one reason, and I truly believe another reason is because it’s hard to live a holy life…..it’s supposed to be because it directs us to the fact that apart from Jesus we are unable to reach Heaven….and I wonder if they made laws to serve as a deflection from eyes glancing into their own lives. In other words, some people create rules and laws to serve as a diversion. They spew out ideology so loudly that they think it will make others convinced (even without evidence) that the speaker has their house in order, when in fact, they are in more disorder than most.
Some place a “barking dog” at the door of their heart and house so that others are afraid to enter. They will yell and scream and point fingers, all the while they know inside they are afraid of being exposed.
So, what are we to do? Who should we trust? God. I don’t know how any of us could possibly know the truth apart from God. We are designed to need Him. Our Counselor.
Take a minute and instead of looking outward to find the path, look to God. He is the only way. Ask Him to unveil your eyes so you can clearly see the path He has marked out for you.
Keep me safe, my God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.” I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood such gods or take up their names on my lips. Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup; You make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, Who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will You let Your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand. Psalm 16
365 Days in the Presence 