The Beauty of Rules

"Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day...How sweet are thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Psalm 119:97, 103

I know I said in my last post that I would love to expand on a lesson or two I have gleaned from my time at Wellspring.  Well, one thing I learned on Tuesday is that I am "too white."  One of the new girls that I have met with about 3 times used that phrase to describe me to my supervisor.  Things are already looking up though because yesterday we bonded over a love for Nelly's new song, Just a Dream.  Little victories!  Thank you, Nelly.  On a slightly different note, I have come to a new appreciation for God's laws.  That may sound odd, but of all the things I have learned thus far, it is a deeper, more sincere love for the commands that God has given us through His Word and lived out in Jesus.  I've actually had lots of thoughts on the law lately, so bear with me as I share...

I believe that the law was given because of sin and to make sin abound, thus revealing the wickedness of man.  It was not given so that we could save ourselves, although that is typically how we treat it.  How often we try to live nice, moral lives in hopes that we can justify everything that isn't right.  Since we misuse the law, we have to constantly preach against the law in this context.  And as a result, I think we get a bad taste in our mouths about the law all together.  But in its proper context, the law is lovely.  Spurgeon says, 'Those who know the power of the gospel perceive an infinite loveliness in the law as they see it fulfilled and embodied in Christ Jesus."

Over the last 5 months I have been intensely reminded of the beauty of adhering to God's commands.  We think they squelch our fun, but instead they guard us from destruction.  What a gracious gift it is that our God knows what is good for us and clearly provides us with directions that lead to that goodness.  The other day I listened to one of my girls express such frustration over a specific set of poor decisions she had made, now that the effects of her actions have proven so painful.  She wants to run from this behavior in the future, not because she is legalistic, but simply because she desires life and not destruction.  Now she's not exactly running from this behavior for the Gospel's sake, we still have a ways to go in that area, but this taught me a great lesson on the goodness of God's rules.   In conclusion, I urge myself and others to not shy away from promoting and following rules.  May we preach boldly the parameters that God has set for us, because they lead to a good life, and that in turn makes God look really good.    

"If the Lawgiver were foolish his law would be the same, and obedience to such a law would involve us in a thousand mistakes; but as the reverse is the case, we may count ourselves happy to have such a wise, prudent, and beneficial law to be the rule of our lives.  We are wise if we obey, and we grow wise by obeying."  Charles Spurgeon