Expectant Prayers ®

I saw a kid the other day wearing a T-Shirt that read "Rules Don't Apply to Me" .  Wow!  That sure says a lot.  Isn't it enough to think  it... you also have to advertise it???    I'd sure hate to be that's kid's teacher if that's really how he lives his life.

Sadly, he's probably one of an army of millions with the same motto.  Honestly, there are plenty of people who live by that motto, but never would admit to it.  Where is mankind headed with attitudes like that?  I'll tell you where!

From the beginning of man’s fellowship with God, the devil has tried to trick us into thinking that we don’t have to follow the “rules”.  Remember Eve in the garden?  Genesis 3:3-5 gives us the scene…

“It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

 ‘You won’t die!’ the serpent replied to the woman. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.’”

Can’t you just hear the devil now tempting her with the idea, ‘Those rules don’t apply to YOU! You won’t have any of the consequences God said you would, even though He told you not to.  God is a God of love and He wouldn’t do that.  Go ahead.  You won’t die.’  Then she considered what he said and reasoned it out in her mind why it was alright. Once you start playing around in your mind with things, imagining “why” you should proceed with something you know is wrong, satan has already got you. 

We all live in a world of rules.   Prisons, for example, are full of people who feel that they are above the laws of the land, but many more are in spiritual prisons because they feel they are above God’s laws.  Just like our common laws, claiming ignorance of the law is not a defense or excuse when standing before the judge.   That judge will bring down a verdict in accordance with the law. When we stand before the righteous judge someday (one who is able to pardon our sins to spend an eternity in heaven or sentence us to an eternal separation from Him) He will judge us according to His law.  There is no way around it, whether you believe it or not.  The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

The key to what is on my heart today are the questions:  am I guilty of minimizing God’s laws and statutes?     Have I fallen for the old lie that God’s laws don’t apply to me?  Do I hold others to live by God’s laws, but not myself?

I am staggered by recent statistics (on Barna, etc.) indicating a large percentage of the population believe that they are Christian yet very few attend church, read their Bibles, tithe/give.  “Christian” people think it’s okay to lie, cheat, steal, consume alcohol and get drunk, take the Lord’s name in vain or text OMG, have abortions, live together before they are married, fornicate, practice greed, lust, hate others, make promises they don't keep, dabble in occult practices, covet the possessions of others, curse and swear…the list goes on and on.   This is not consistent with the Word of God!   If you do those things, the word is clear... you will pay for those sins with eternal death.

 In all actuality, the law was given (such as the 10 Commandments) to help us realize how far away from God’s perfection we are.  Seeing our failures in God’s mirror of the law makes us aware that we need a Savior!   Is our Christian walk something we have to work toward every day?  Absolutely!  Do we mess up occasionally?  Of course…but as Paul says, don’t use that (God’s grace) as an excuse to keep on sinning.  IF you know that you've been guilty of breaking God's rules, don't let another minute go by.  Ask for repentance and stand before Him clean.  Turn from that sin and don't go back.

 
The bottom line is clear:  THE RULES APPLY TO US AND THEY EITHER BRING US LIFE OR DEATH.  It’s our choice.