Love the Lord
your God, ...walk in his ways, and . . . keep his commands, decrees and laws (NIV 1984, Deuteronomy 30:16).
Chapter 30 is where
the Deuteronomic Covenant comes to a head. The basic idea is that those who do
right will be blessed while those who do wrong will be cursed. The rewards for
compliance and the consequences for disobedience have been spelled out, and
Moses asks for a decision: Choose life (v. 19).
It would be easy to
suppose that Moses’ words in verse 16 are ordered in an arbitrary manner. In
math it would be called the commutative property: a + b = b + a. That works
with addition, but not in growing a relationship with God. The sequence in
which Moses’ words are delivered is by no means coincidental, but deliberate.
Legalism begins with summoning up the strength to keep a list of rules (commands,
decrees and laws), thinking this is how we walk in God’s ways,
and that somehow through this we’ll learn to love him. Holiness, on
the other hand, begins with a heartfelt love for God, which can only be
satisfied by walking with him. And if we walk with him, keeping his commands,
decrees and laws will come naturally.
So what sounds
better: struggling to follow a list of rules and regulations and seeing how far
that gets you? Or falling in love with God and seeing where that leads?
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Think about times you’ve
tried to start with following the rules, and times when you’ve let your love
for God determine your choices. Which works better?
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