Part Ten

We went on vacation last week. I really needed it. My family looked forward to it for weeks. We would say, “two more weeks”, “One more week”, “Three more days”. . . it was a countdown until we left. Once we got there and got settled in it started to feel like home.

We were fortunate to be able to stay on the beach this trip. We had a patio outside that over looked the ocean on one side, and a lake on the other side. In the mornings sometimes I would go out on the patio to sit and enjoy the day. One morning, as I relaxed on the porch, I started thinking about the guard rail. We were quite a few floors up and I was thinking, “If that guard rail were not here I would not feel safe sitting here.” As a matter of fact if that guard rail had not have been there I probably would not have wanted to be on the patio at all. It would have changed the whole dynamic. A place of peace and serenity would have become a place of anxiety and fear.

And then I thought what if the guard rail was lower? Like maybe 6 inches lower? I may still feel safer, but it would definitely be less safe feeling. And then I thought (yes I know, welcome to my world) what if it were two feet lower and the rail itself was only one foot high? In that case it may as well not even been there. This rail was playing a huge part in my morning peace and quiet. It was enabling my serenity. I could stand up and lean on it, I could prop my feet up on it, I could hang my wet towel off of it. The rail had so many uses, but if it were removed the entire balcony would become useless. One piece of metal ten feet long and three feet high held in by eight bolts made my whole vacation more enjoyable and less stressful.

So you must be asking, “What does this have to do with my life and the eighteen inch journey?”.  . .  Glad you asked. . .  Everything.

I want you to envision the guard rail as The Law of God. And I want you to envision the patio as the world. God offers you peace and serenity in this world. He does not want you to leave this world like the monks thought, nor does he want you to dive off into the world mindlessly, like satan tempted Jesus to do. Instead he wants you, in this world, but protected by his law in order to keep your peace in place, in order for your “patio” to remain safe. His laws are not meant to restrain you from having peace they are there to secure your peace, to make sure you stay safely on the patio which brings the serenity you are looking for.   The Law is not there to restrain you from living life it is there to enable you to live life in a way that brings you freedom. God is not trying to keep you from happiness he is trying to give you true happiness. The Law is your guard rail to keep you inside of true life.

Think about this, what if we lower the law just a little bit? What if we say, “Well God wrote that for Israel back then. The Law doesn’t pertain to me now. We are now under the New Testament. We don’t follow the law. So the Law may have some good moral ideas, but it does not mean much to me.”? What you just did was lower the protection of your patio and endangered yourself. You lowered the law. 

In lowering The Law what we are saying is, “I know how to live. I don’t need anyone telling me what I can and cannot do. I Got this.” That is exactly what happened in the Garden of Eden. And it is why you will buck The Law. It’s wired into your DNA. But you have to trust The Law and The Law Giver. You have to trust not only is The Law good and holy and righteous, but so is the Law Giver.

Once you realize this you can lean on The Law, you can prop your feet on The Law, you can hang your dirty laundry on The Law. Then you can know the law is good because you are trusting in The Law.

So many people see The Law as a condition of God’s love. In other words, if I will follow The Law then God will love me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead The Law is a product of God’s love. He loves his people so much he wants to keep them safe, and in peace.

So pick a Law, any Law, how about, “Thou shalt not bare false witness to thy neighbor”. In redneck terms, “Don’t gossip about your friends”. What if we remove that rail? We just tell whoppers all the time about your friends? What if you expose peoples business and expound on it into places you do not even know about? It will not be long before no one trusts you, no one wants to be around you, no one enjoys the company of a gossip. How about, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? What if we remove that one? Peace is gone, serenity is gone, lives are ruined etc. . . are you getting the point?

The sooner we see God’s Law as a guard rail and not a jail cell, the sooner we can find the freedom and peace that he so desperately wants to give.