This weekend after waiting for my turn at a four-way stop it was finally my turn to go when on the edge of my peripheral vision I caught movement. As I quickly retreated my foot from the accelerator, a young man on a bicycle hurled past the front of my hood and was gone on down the road never knowing how close he came to not becoming an older man. Why when coming to a busy intersection would he even begin to think the stop signs were not for him?
Why would people even think God’s commandments are not pertinent after the cross? What did we think was God’s purpose for giving us His law? His law is the loving concern of a parent for young children who are not experienced enough with life to know the consequences of murder, theft, etc. God’s laws are there to keep us from harm and from harming others. Those consequences did not change because God made provision for our foolishness. Just as that bicyclist was foolish and stupid so are we when we think His laws don’t matter anymore.
When Paul speaks of them being nailed to the cross he was referring to them as a means of salvation. Salvation only comes from Jesus and His sacrifice. There is no other way. Jesus even said, “I am the way.” Paul was not saying we don’t have to obey. What he was saying is keeping or trying to keep them will never save us. Actually, we can disobey if we want the consequences of disobedience to rain upon us. The consequences didn’t change. God does forgive us for our foolishness but He also lets us reap the now consequences of our disregard for his wisdom. The law is a teacher, a professor, an expert on survival in a dangerous world.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 11, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org