Living by God’s Rules

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Scripture: Deuteronomy 12:28 (NIV)

28 Be careful to obey all these regulations I [Moses] am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Devotion:

          When parents raise their children, they set down rules for them to follow. The rules are there to protect the children from danger. Often kids will break the rules because they can’t see the danger themselves, so they suffer the natural outcome of say touching a hot stove. When we were children, we all acted foolishly and disobeyed our parents.

          The rules God gives us are there for our own good. The rules show us the way to a life that is pleasing to God. However, like children we often don’t believe that the rules are really there for our good. We often disobey them and suffer the consequences. The apostle Paul understood this to be our human condition when he wrote Romans 7:19-20 (ESV) “19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

          Since this is our human condition to break God’s rules for our lives, how are we to ever to do what is pleasing to God? The answer does not lie in our human nature which is bent toward sin. Paul gives his summation of the situation at the end of chapter 7 of Romans “24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” In Jesus Christ we can serve God even though our flesh still desires to do what is sinful.

          Therefore, we see that our only hope to do what Moses is talking about in Deuteronomy is to know Christ as our savior. Without him there is no hope of ever really pleasing God. So, let’s rededicate our lives to God through Jesus today.

Prayer:

          Almighty God we humbly submit our lives to your Son, Jesus Christ. We know that nothing that pleases you is found in us apart from Christ. We thank you Lord that you loved your people enough to send your son Jesus to save us from our hopeless sinful condition. We praise you because you are love. Your grace reaches to the heavens keeping us in the way that is right in your eyes. Amen.   

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