Wife is paranoid about hand washing before coming into contact with food. So before I make her a beautiful tea each evening, her first comment will always be, 'have you washed your hands?' I must confess that there have been occasions when it has slipped my mind, though I probably work on the principle that as the food is going to be cooked completely through, any bugs that might have been along for the ride would be killed by the heat anyway. Still, by the frown on her face it is probably best to obey, though of late i think it has just become a habit to her and she says it automatically. I think I could probably answer by saying 'three blind mice' and she would reply 'that's good, now carry on and make my tea.'Obedience is one of those things that means different things to different people. And i suppose it's all really about one person or group setting down a law, you can call it dictating if you want, and another deciding whether to obey it or not. We have rules for our cat involving where he can sit in the house, which really amounts to only one place, his basket, but occasionally he jumps up on to a lap and settles down for a snooze. and sometimes, if we aren't looking, he will make himself comfortable on the sofa. Is he being disobedient? I guess he's not sure, when sometimes he is accommodated on a knee and other times shunned. Anyway, I think he's a chancer at times and tries to see how far this whole obedience lark can be pushed. But are we any different? For instance, what really makes you slow down when you enter a built up area? The 30mph sign? I don't think so. More likely, the overhead camera or the hidden police officer waiting to jump out from behind a pillar and stop you. And when you're in a hurry, where does your sense of obedience to the speed limit go as you weave in and out past slower moving vehicles, sometimes crossing solid white lines along the way? OK so you're a slow driver and never cross the speed limits. And you never, ever throw litter out of the car window, you haven't stolen anything, apart form the occasional biscuit from the cookie barrel and you are aren't a murderer, though you enjoy the odd spot of shooting or hunting. You do everything your parents tell you, even though you're well over thirty now, except on those occasions, which seem to happen quite often, that you know your judgement in a situation is much better than theirs. And you never tell lies, though sometimes a half truth is the best way to avoid a confrontation. Oh yes and you keep the Sabbath day holy, at least until one o'clock and occasionally for an hour in the evening too. You're a faithful husband or wife, aren't jealous of what your next door neighbour has and you don't use swear words. Lastly, you worship the living and true God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of your forefathers and He has top billing in your life, though a flashy car, a nice house in a nice setting and all the modern mod cons are important to have too. Good. I'm glad that others might be just like I am at times.
That's why I'm glad I went to church today. Paul, our minister, was reading from the other Paul's letter to the Galatians and used the heading 'Are you a Christian or merely religious?' And that's when they both reminded me why God accepts me, imperfect and liable to failure on any day of the week. It's not because I obey the laws or the ten commandments for in Galatians I read, 'Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.' And today I understood the most important word in that sentence is ALL. If we could be reconciled to God through our own efforts of obeying the law, none of us would ever be pure enough to be in His presence, for we all break the law, even in the smallest things we do, think and say. To return to Paul's writings to the Galatian church (and Paul's sermon today), 'It is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.' And that faith is found through the grace of God whose Son died for all our sins, past, present and future and who blesses those who believe with the same blessings that He promised to Abraham. After that, obedience to His calling tends to be what we want to do to please Him, not just for ourselves. Habakkuk wrote, 'The righteous will live by faith' while Jesus Himself said 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.' He also said, 'Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.' When we obey the Law Giver then we show our love in a way that trying to keep His laws can never illustrate. Obedience is indeed a discipline but it starts at the foot of the cross, not at the foot of Mount Sinai.
