People seem to like lists. And lists of rules. You probably grew up with them–after all that’s much of what school is about. Teachers make up rules. Students follow them. Teachers have a list of things students must learn, students follow them. We’ve probably all lived through this experience.
Think of the organizational problem confronting Moses when he led the Hebrews from Egypt. I don’t know how many people there were, but surely the size of a medium sized city today. They had no organization, maybe just some informal leaders from their days in Egypt. They were in a hostile land. They had to organize both civilly (judges, police, ward leaders, and so on) and religiously. After all this situation came about because these people were all descendants of Abraham. They belonged to the same tribe and were supposed to be following the God of Abraham. I suppose that even after all the years in Egypt, they still had tribal identity. No mention is made of priestly leadership, or if there were religious traditions handed down.
Moses was spiritual and talked with God. And God talked to Moses. And Moses listened. But what about the rest of the people? They were afraid to talk with God. Moses scared them because he talked with God. So, God gave Moses a list of rules beginning with the Ten Commandments to guide the people. No doubt God would have preferred that everyone talk with Him, but they were afraid.
We have stories of ancient people. But the stories seem modern as they describe humans. We still have people who talk with God and people who need rules. Trouble is there just can’t be a law that covers every little situation that you might run across. If there were, there would be so many that you couldn’t remember them anyway. Then, laws need lawyers to interpret them. And as you all remember from school, laws also separate people into groups according to which laws you break–or the kind of people that don’t break laws (at least not publicly). Comparison breeds the idea that some are better than others. I can point to someone else and compare.
But Jesus didn’t do that. He said we should live in relationship to God and then in relationship with others. The relationship with others is determined by our relationship with God. You don’t need a list of rules if your behavior is guided by the Spirit. When you are living with God, you just go with the flow of the Spirit and do the right thing. When something interferes with that flow (sin), then you can tell it. Those are the times you feel guilty or ashamed of the way you act.
So, get with the flow of the Spirit. Break the tyranny of rules. Jesus sets you free to live with God without worry.
Tags: Christianity, lifestyle, Love, Relationship
Faith Venture 
Leave a comment