The Law of My Heart - Day 181 Month 6-30 Week 26-6
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
Judges 20:18-21:7, Psalm 147, Jeremiah 51:15-26, Acts 15:1-35
The Law of My Heart
There is a story you may already know about a woman cooking a ham. Before putting it in the oven, she cut off both ends and placed the remaining ham in a roasting pan. Her husband asked why she cut off the ends, and she replied, “That’s what you do when you cook a ham.” After thinking about the question, she asked her mother why she had always cut off the ends. Her mother wasn't sure either, so she asked her own mother, the younger woman's grandmother. The grandmother explained that she cut off the ends because it was the only way the ham would fit in her roasting pan.
In Acts, we read about a debate over whether a person could be saved if they were not circumcised. Some Pharisees who had become Jesus followers insisted that Gentiles had to be circumcised in order to become true believers. Figuratively speaking, these believing Pharisees were still cutting off the ends of the ham, even though the roasting pan had become much larger.
At the end of the discussion, James concluded that Gentile believers should abstain from:
Things sacrificed to idols
Blood
Things strangled
Sexual immorality
Apart from these instructions, no additional rules were imposed.
We can find good reasons for avoiding these practices. Several of them could cause a weaker believer to stumble in their faith, and sexual immorality clearly remains a moral boundary. James was emphasizing that while believers were no longer under the Law, they should still live morally and avoid actions that might hinder the faith of others.
That is one of the great things about God's kingdom, we have freedom. Yet even with freedom, we should be careful. The apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). He continues in verse 13: “The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.”
If my body belongs to God, then I should care for it. Even more importantly, we should care for the body of Christ (the community of Jesus followers). If I live in a way that is morally questionable, it may affect me personally, but it can also negatively affect the church and its witness.
Here is an example. Suppose I invite a Jewish family for dinner who are new Jesus followers but were formerly devout Jews. It would probably not be wise to serve ham. We may not know how well they understand their new faith, and serving something that strongly conflicts with their previous convictions could be harmful to their spiritual growth.
So the lesson today is simple: we are free! We are free to eat what we want. We are free from the requirements of the Old Testament Law. But freedom is not a license to do whatever we please. As a Jesus follower, I am guided by the law written on my heart. With the Holy Spirit living in me, I want to listen to His leading and live in a way that is morally upright, loving toward others, and a positive influence in the world.
My goal is not merely to exercise my freedom, but to use that freedom in a way that points people toward Jesus.
Have a great day!
Steve
You can subscribe to this blog and receive an email each day or week. Just visit the following link. https://follow.it/my-faith-view-from-here-daily-readings-and-thoughts?leanpub
Comments
Post a Comment