Today’s Scripture Reading (September
22, 2012): Deuteronomy 23
The law is
black and white. By design that is its greatest strength. A good law is one
that you know when you have broken it and you also know what the penalty is
going to be. A lot of traffic laws work on that principle. So if you are caught
speeding, the amount you are going over the posted speed will equal to a fine
of a specific amount. No court date is necessary – unless you intend to fight
the ticket.
A while back
I was in court with a friend and had the privilege of watching a man try to
fight a speeding ticket. His first attempt was to question the calibration of
the radar gun. But the radar gun had been submitted to a regular maintenance
schedule and was known to be accurate. And so he moved on to his second line of
defense – he had been unaware of the posted speed in the area where he was
caught. But ignorance of the law is never an excuse for breaking the law. But
luckily the man had come equipped with a third line of defense – which in this
case was that he was compelled to speed. He had a medical condition and had
forgotten his medication at home, and so he had to get home swiftly before his
medical condition made it impossible for him to drive. But none of that
mattered. All that mattered was that he had broken the posted speed limit – he had
broken the law - and so the fine stood.
Grace is
different – sometimes frustratingly so. Grace allows for us to avoid the
penalty even though we have done the time. I friend of mine was recently pulled
over for speeding. The officer approached the window and asked him if he knew
how fast he was going. He answered truthfully with the speed he was travelling.
The shocked police officer said usually people lied when asked that question,
but because he had told the truth he decided not to give him the ticket that he
had earned by speeding – and that is grace.
I have
friends that pride themselves on being black and white people. Unfortunately
that also means that they will never know the miracle of grace. Moses states
the law - no one who has been emasculated will ever enter the Assembly of God.
But Isaiah speaks of the eunuch receiving from God a memorial better than sons
and daughters (Isaiah 56:4) – and Philip baptizes the Ethiopian Eunuch into the
faith (Acts 8). And that is grace at work.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Deuteronomy 24
No comments:
Post a Comment