Quite often you can look out of our front door and see a police officer parked on our street. They set up a speed trap for the main road at the end of our street. The speed limit is 35 mph and most people think that it is a little slow. I don't have a problem with obeying the speed limit here-in fact my children tease me about always going 34 mph!!
What I find as interesting is that most people don't think of speeding as doing something wrong. A lot of people think that this is a gray area-not black and white. Some think that it isn't serious if they run a red light. I don't necessarily agree with all of the laws that are in place, but when they are put into place we are supposed to obey them. Here is the truth...if you go one mile over the speed limit then it is breaking the law. It can be a very difficult thing to accept at times. Life has rules. As a child you have rules you have to obey and the majority of them are given to keep you safe. As an adult we have rules to keep order in our world. God gave the first set of rules back in history to the Israelites in the form of the 10 Commandments.
Exodus 20:1-17
" And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Although we live in the age of Grace and are not under the law anymore we still need to follow the 10 commandments-they have not gone out of style over the years.
A person that lives by his own rules or doesn't have any rules at all to follow will give in to everything and not stand for anything. The world would be one of chaos-like the world was at the time of Noah.
Sin ruled and men were living however they wanted, so much so that God sent a flood to destroy the world and only saved Noah and his family.
When the Israelites didn't have a ruler it happened again as shared in Judges
Judges 21:25
"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
As we live one day at a time while still here on earth we are living in a world that still has sin. Man cannot rule himself and therefore needs to have safeguards installed for him with penalties implemented if they are disregarded.
If we love the Lord and are seeking Him with all of our heart then we will want to obey Him and the rules He has given us to live by. No one is perfect, but if you do something wrong then you need to ask forgiveness. But remember, it isn't worth speeding to get where you are going. It may take a couple of extra minutes but you will get to your destination.
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