The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/deuteronomy/11.htm

Moses continues to review with the Israelites the past and to reinforce the laws and Commandments. They must be pretty important for as much as they are reviewed. They are constantly talking about them, Moses educating the children of Israel at every turn, reminding them to follow God’s law.

And he talks about the blessings they will receive if they obey God, that God will give them needed rain so their crops do well, as so the grass grows for their livestock. I’m not a farmer, but I would have to think twice about whether or not I’m honoring God during those times when crops are bad or during droughts. And I’m not picking on farmers either, everyone will receive blessings of some type in their life, whether it is blessings in their employment, or in family, or in wealth. When we turn our backs on God is when life is its hardest, so the small sacrifice we make in order to love and honor God, with all our hearts, and souls, and minds, the blessings are great. It’s like doing a cost/benefit analysis; the cost is little, the benefits are great.

In Chapter 12, Moses reminds everyone that God wants the children of Israel to enter the land, to push out the pagans, and to make a place to worship, but most importantly, to destroy the high places and the idols the pagans have worshiped. This is imperative in the event someone gets curious about the other gods and is tempted to worship them.

Now here’s a big one, and here is the example I’m going to use. If you’re driving down the highway and the speed limit is 70, do you drive 70? Or do you drive whatever speed you think you can get away with, perhaps you have a radar detector in your car? Or, are you like the majority, you say to yourself, “The speed limit is 70, but I can get away with doing 75 or 76 because they won’t stop me unless I’m really in excess.”? Do you fudge on the speed limit, or do you set your cruise control for exactly the limit?

I can say that unless my mind is preoccupied with something and I’m not paying attention to my speed, I do not exceed the speed limit. In fact people have called me “grandpa” for years, even when I was young, because I didn’t “push it to the limit”. But I can also say, my motivation isn’t to follow the law, I drive the speed limit because as a former firefighter, I worked too many serious and fatal accidents that I know I don’t want to become a statistic myself. In fact, I take driving defensively to the excess. If I didn’t have those images stuck in my mind, I too would likely push the limit. I’ve only had one speeding ticket in my life, and it was when my girlfriend and I were heading to the State Fair, and we were young and had the music playing loud, and I wasn’t paying attention to the speedometer.

That said, how many of you push it to the limit when it comes to God’s law? Do you push it as far as you can? Do you twist it around so it better suits your lifestyle? It is possible to do that, not well advised, but possible.

And in Chapter 12, Moses addresses this. Verse 8 reads, 8“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.

You may be able to justify your actions. You might say, “I know this is what the Bible (plainly) says, but I think God meant this…” It is not our job to “fudge” on God’s word. It is not okay to quote “I’m under grace, I’m not under the law.” You can try that, but I don’t advise that.

Jesus died for our past sins, not for our future ones. With the old covenant, God gave us his laws through tablets of stone and through documents that Moses wrote, the Torah. But we were unable to follow them. Having them written down was not sufficient. So God sent His Son to be the sacrificial lamb for our past sins, and the new covenant was that instead of putting His laws on paper and stone, He would put them in our hearts. He did that through Jesus. Jesus was the living embodiment of God’s law, and as Christians, we are supposed to follow Christ, to live our lives as Jesus did. But the law hasn’t changed, it’s still valid, it’s still intact. And if we don’t have it written in our hearts, that is our own fault.

Remember, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father”.

Remember, study the Bible on your own so you know that what your pastor is telling you is the truth.

God bless you all.