KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Law
WHILE DRIVING THROUGH a school zone, do you watch for the police or kids...?
Typically, those who watch for the police rather than kids obey the restrictive speed limits out of a sense of obligation or fear of being caught. They forget the intent of the law is to protect children.
Good laws do not exist for their own sake, but as a means for greater good. God's law is no different. The Pharisees had forgotten the intent of God's law (cf. Luke 6). The Old Testament reminds us that God's greatest desire in giving the Law was so that His people would be transformed into His image (Lev. 11:44).
THOUGHT: We all experience times when we forget the intent of the law and fall into looking for the police rather than kids. Jesus reminds us that what God desires from us is not simply obedience to laws, but obedience which has as its constant goal the imitation of the character of God. (J. Cary)
KneEmail: "Then Jesus said to them, 'I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it" ( Luke 6:9)