It’s amazing what a dog will do for a treat. When I ask our lab to shake, as she picks up her paw she cocks her head and gives me a crazy look as if to say, “Look, this is really stupid. It serves no real function other than to make you happy, so here. Now where’s my treat?” Actually it has gotten even worse. When she wants a treat she taps me with her nose, sits down and picks up her paw. I think the psychologist Skinner would say I am the one who has been conditioned.
I am so thankful God does not ask me to do mindless things that I might receive blessings. There is no eleventh commandment that says, “Shake.” God is so practical. Each commandment comes with a blessing not as a care package from heaven but as a result of doing something very useful. For example the first command says not to worship idols. Of course that would be stupid because a piece of stone or wood can’t interact with us. The fourth commandment tells us to rest every seventh-day. If God didn’t command that most of us would work seven days a week and burn out at 35 or 40. If I honor my parents, my children will see me do this and they will then treat me the way I treated grandma and grandpa.
Everything God asks of us is sensible, practical and leads to the abundant life Jesus promises to us. Even the Old Testament food requirements in Leviticus were there to keep the children of Israel healthy and well. What a wonderful God. He doesn’t need His ego to be massaged by our behavior. He just wants us to be happy, safe and well.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 16, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org