"Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes."
Deuteronomy 12:8
I like God's instructions to the Israelites after they left Egypt and before they get to the promised land. There are a bunch of commandments and very detailed instructions, and although Christ gave us a higher law, that doesn't mean that the Mosaic law doesn't have value, or that all that the prophets said back then is worthless. Every prophecy will be fulfilled, and the laws are super instructive because they help us understand on a beginner level what devotion to God means... and we are definitely all beginners sometimes.
I like this verse because it is really basic but also *super* important. When we covenant with God (which is what baptism or joining his church or following him necessitates... an agreement between ourselves and God), God promises us a lot of things... to watch out for us, to take care of us, to be our God, etc. But we are also making promises to him. We promise to not be ashamed of him, to follow him, to remember him, to take his name upon ourselves, etc. And the one in this verse: to do things HIS way, not our own way.
There are probably gospel principles more important than this, but this is wrapped up in all of them, and was really the pinnacle of the atonement, when Christ said "not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). That's the deal. And if we want God to be on our side, then we need to do things his way. ... That doesn't mean giving up our personalities and becoming robots or anything. God loves us individually, and loves who we are... but it also doesn't mean that, as the verse says, we can go do whatever we want. God can do more for us than we ever could for ourselves, if we can trust him and learn his ways.
Doing his will is not like being forced to work in the mines and getting lung cancer or something, but like taking an art class because our teacher recommended it, and suddenly discovering we have a talent and a love for it, which we would never have known otherwise. I mean, we're free, and obviously we can look at it as a bad thing... but then why make the agreement in the first place? If we are going to have God in our lives, we need to go all in. Trying to call on him when we are desperate and do whatever the crap we want the rest of the time is the cause of an awful lot of our problems, and excessive debts of regret and payments of impatience tax.
Today, let's work on learning this basic lesson... if we want God in our lives, we need to learn to do things his way. His way is also a cool and awesome and happy way that will help us to be our best selves, but the road is not without pain or difficulty. Let's stick with it anyway, and with our covenant with God. We will always get the better end of that deal.
Deuteronomy 12:8
I like God's instructions to the Israelites after they left Egypt and before they get to the promised land. There are a bunch of commandments and very detailed instructions, and although Christ gave us a higher law, that doesn't mean that the Mosaic law doesn't have value, or that all that the prophets said back then is worthless. Every prophecy will be fulfilled, and the laws are super instructive because they help us understand on a beginner level what devotion to God means... and we are definitely all beginners sometimes.
I like this verse because it is really basic but also *super* important. When we covenant with God (which is what baptism or joining his church or following him necessitates... an agreement between ourselves and God), God promises us a lot of things... to watch out for us, to take care of us, to be our God, etc. But we are also making promises to him. We promise to not be ashamed of him, to follow him, to remember him, to take his name upon ourselves, etc. And the one in this verse: to do things HIS way, not our own way.
There are probably gospel principles more important than this, but this is wrapped up in all of them, and was really the pinnacle of the atonement, when Christ said "not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). That's the deal. And if we want God to be on our side, then we need to do things his way. ... That doesn't mean giving up our personalities and becoming robots or anything. God loves us individually, and loves who we are... but it also doesn't mean that, as the verse says, we can go do whatever we want. God can do more for us than we ever could for ourselves, if we can trust him and learn his ways.
Doing his will is not like being forced to work in the mines and getting lung cancer or something, but like taking an art class because our teacher recommended it, and suddenly discovering we have a talent and a love for it, which we would never have known otherwise. I mean, we're free, and obviously we can look at it as a bad thing... but then why make the agreement in the first place? If we are going to have God in our lives, we need to go all in. Trying to call on him when we are desperate and do whatever the crap we want the rest of the time is the cause of an awful lot of our problems, and excessive debts of regret and payments of impatience tax.
Today, let's work on learning this basic lesson... if we want God in our lives, we need to learn to do things his way. His way is also a cool and awesome and happy way that will help us to be our best selves, but the road is not without pain or difficulty. Let's stick with it anyway, and with our covenant with God. We will always get the better end of that deal.
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