It is sometimes hard to remember that. We have our day planner, google calender, phone with task lists and email and IM. "Alright Lord ... does Thursday next week work for you? It would be best then ... If not maybe ... the .... Monday after in the afternoon?"
LORD, I pray for patience and the strength to do my tasks for only this day.
Stones from mountain streams are so cold and smooth in your hand. Water continually runs on them wearing them down to a polish like finish. Five small stones started as rocks and God placed them in a stream years ago. Years passed by as people came an went. In all that time the stones waited for the young boy to trust more in God than in size and power.
In your life is God placing you in the stream to be worn down and smoothed for use? Or is God waiting for you to pick up what He has made and to do what is right?
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
A big issue with math homework is ... "How much do I have to do?" Students always seem to want to do as little as possible. It may be that they are busy or lazy. But, they just want to do only what they absolutely have to. The truth of mathematics is ... you have to do as much as you can possibly do to learn it. You learn nothing if you just want to pass by the skin of your teeth.
In the question to Christ above the man was asking what was the least amount of work he had to do. It is interesting the answer wasn't ... "you need to get 70% correct to pass." The answer was ... "you need to give it your all to pass."
At our house we can hear the cows bellow when their calves are separated from them. At first mother and calf are together during the later parts of winter. But, when the calves are old enough they are taken away and we can hear the mothers bellowing out most of the night. It is a rather lonely sound.
When the Philistines sent back the Ark of the LORD they ...
... took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went.
The Philistines wanted to know if it was God who was working against them. And every year as I hear the mothers lowing for their calves ... I think of God.
That is why I at times go through my doubts and struggles with God. I live by my brain ( I'm a teacher of mathematics ) and the wisdom of man is foolishness to God. And the wisdom of God is foolishness to man.
We as a people want to have human leaders rather than God as our leader. They are tangible and we can point out all of their foolishness. We can hate them or we can love them. Yet, in the end they are only men. And all the evils I am tempted with ... they feel, and tend to act on, as well.
I believe it is better to not pray for the success of our leaders. Rather to pray for their salvation and for God to burden their hearts for good.
No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
Ever tried to drive straight while turning your body and looking behind you? It's really really hard. People tend to drift left or right just by turning their heads, let alone their entire body.
I see my salvation like that. I can't be driving for the LORD if I'm trying to look back at where I've been.
I thought it best to include the videos from the Redeeming Ruth series from Mars Hill Church. The below videos just cover the words of the book itself.
I really wanted to focus on verses like this when I can. Maybe to point out how we need to listen. Listen to the Bible. Listen to the LORD. Listen to each other.
Rarely does someone's ears get them into trouble. Our mouths ... well, that tends to get me in trouble at least. As Ruth and Boaz listened wisdom and to the calling of the LORD. So should we.
If there was a book that described my life ... I can think of no worse words to be in it than: "did what was right in his own eyes". And today that is all I see in the world I live in.
We murder our children so we don't have to be parents. We steal from each other so we don't have to work. Children curse their parents. Fathers abandon their families. All in the name of our new god ... Self.
What a foolish and stupid god. To sacrifice to ourselves and our desires. Where ALL of it can be taken at the whim of another man. Driving home tonight all of it could be lost in a second.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
What an interesting truth. What thing most vexes the rich? The question of "Is there nothing more?" They only have worldly things. For wealth tempts you to imagine that the god Self is actually real. That "you" are all that matters.
And when "you" are all that matters ... you are alone.
The Cry of the Alien - Strickland Gillilan
I'm an alien — I'm an alien to the faith my mother taught me; I'm an alien to the God that heard my mother when she cried; I'm a stranger to the comfort that my "Now I lay me" brought me, To the Everlasting Arms that held my father when he died.
I was born where God was closer to His children and addressed them With the tenderest of messages through bird and tree and bloom; I was bred where people stretched upon the velvet sod to rest them, Where the twilight's benediction robbed the coming night of gloom. But I've built a wall between me and the simple life behind me; I have coined my heart and paid it for the fickle world's applause; Yet I think His hand would fumble through the voiceless dark and find me If I only had the faith that made my mother what she was.
When the great world came and called me I deserted all to follow; Never knowing, in my dazedness, I had slipped my hand from His — Never noting, in my blindness, that the bauble fame was hollow, That the gold of wealth was tinsel, as I since have learned it is — No, I've spent a life-time seeking things I've spurned when I have found them; I have fought and been rewarded in many a petty cause; But I'd trade them all — fame, fortune and the pleasures that surround them, For a little of the faith that made my mother what she was.
... thorns in your sides,and their gods shall be a snare to you.
So it is for all those idols in our lives that we refuse to deal with. Sometimes we think we can keep them quiet. But, EVERYTHING will be exposed eventually.
I had a bad habit when I was first married ( and I still have it at times ). If there was something that would cause an argument or issue for my wife and I ... I wouldn't tell her right away. Avoiding the problem. And, of course, it never went away. And we had to eventually deal with it. Well ... by then the problem was much larger than at first.
Sin is that way as well. You can't avoid it and expect it to go away. It will grow. So deal with it now.
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
If I deal with the sins of my life. If I crush my idols, the things away from God that I sacrifice my time and money to. If I finally walk and turn back to the path God wants of me. Then I can claim the call of Christ.
Christ came to call me, a sinner, to repentance. To follow Him alone.
LORD, I pray for my walk. Help me to crush my sins. Those sins that are seen and those that only you see. To cleanse my heart. To tie my tongue. Amen.
He was in his eighties and could still work me into the ground at the farm. He talked to me about reading Proverbs and being a godly man. His prayers were to God, and we just happened to listen in on them. He had a kind heart and a quick smile.
When I was listening to the passages about the Cities of Refuge the phrase that came to me was 'house arrest'. There were no prisons like today for involuntary manslaughter ( which the laws concerning the Cities of Refuge deal with ). But, a City of Refuge is basically the same. Except you still had to work for your living rather than be taken care of on societies dollar.
... share with him who has none. ... collect no more than you are authorized. ... do not extort money from anyone. ... be content with your wages.
I do believe that C.S. Lewis was correct in saying that God has written the Laws of what is right and wrong upon our hearts. And we do not do it. We know ... and yet we do not do.
How simple the words of John were. And how simple our minds are in not doing them. We rather listen to our flesh and desires than the prompting of God.
Being honest and male ... the first thing that comes to mind about this part: Ouch. What a name, rolling hills of foreskins.
On a deeper meaning I love that God works with everyone. The characters of the bible are real people. Not supermen who can do anything. But, men in fear that are hiding. Prostitutes and their families. It points out that it isn't us. It is by God's power that anything is done.
It is the little sins in our lives that lead to the greatest falls. The sin of one leads to the death of many. By tragedy or by punishment. A father's sin will curse his children. Be it the sin of adultery or lust ... anger or neglect ... rage or hate. Our children suffer by our actions.
And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant usthat we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit usfrom on highto give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
This is one of the reasons I wanted to do this Bible study. To keep the Word of God near me. To keep God close in my life is to keep His Word close in my life. If I don't talk to God ( pray ) or listen to God ( the Bible and listening during prayer ) how can I grow as a Christian.
If my mind is continually on me ... I will live a rather sad life.
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
And that is how I see my nation today. Forsaking the LORD. Scoffing at our own salvation. We are fat with wealth and we think of ourselves as oh so sleek and beautiful. We sacrifice for that which is not God and seek out abominations to perform. But, that way is a suicidal mindset. For on this path ... God will not rest with us anymore. His face will turn and we will know He is God.
What are all the fears you have that keep you from telling others about God? For me it is fear for my standing with my co-workers. Or how others will see me. Or of losing my job.
Oh Lord ... I pray for the courage to speak what you would have me to say.
I think we would help marriages along if we focused, as a church family, on helping them to just be happy for their first year. Not asking for things or doing work at the church. Try to keep them together at home. Try to focus on building them up for each other. Try to help them understand what it means to be one body in the eyes of God.
As we raise up our children ... maybe we could also raise up our newly married.
Moses had quite the prophesy concerning what would happen to Israel when they turned away from God. I can't imagine the hunger during a siege of a city that would turn parents to eating their dead children. And all that he prophesied in these versus came about for them.
To often we look at the blessing and ignore the curses. Both are the LORD's word. Because sometimes a carrot works to lead us to the path. And sometimes a stick is needed to guide us to the path.
They wondered if they would betray Jesus. They loved Jesus and Jesus loved them ... and they didn't know. They didn't look around and say: "I'm sure it is going to be Peter or Judas". It was: "Is it me? Am I going to do it?"
Taking an honest look in my life I can ask the same question. Actually I suppose it is: "Am I going to betray Jesus, again." I've failed and I've run and I've denied in my heart at times. And I am so glad He as welcomed me back.
LORD ... I pray for courage and strength of character.
Circumcision was the physical mark of being one of God's people. I can't physically mark my heart, but I can spiritually cut away the calluses I have built upon it. I can cut away the fear and doubt. I can remove the walls I've built up to keep others at arms length.
Until I've exposed my heart for God and for God's work.
Once I have softened my heart to God a nice byproduct is that a soft heart is a heart for justice. A heart the seeks out the truth in love. To not be partial in anyway ... to one man or to another.
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
All. Everything. Holding nothing back.
That can be hard. I'm afraid at times of what God would think about the real me. And then I realize ... I'm like the little kid standing in the open room with his eyes closed: "You can't see me". Of course we can. And of course, nothing is hidden from God. I'm not hiding anything ... I'm just refusing to admit to myself my own sins.
... know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
The Lord is God. I take comfort in that.
No matter what I do. No matter the pains or doubt. No matter what the world says or does. No matter who imagines themselves to be in charge. No matter what foolish thoughts of control we have.
My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.
After the Great Wall of China was built the leaders forgot why they needed it. From behind the safety of the wall they began to hate and plot against the man that had created their safety. The very safety the wall and the men standing on it provided led to the forgetfulness and hatred.
In the same way we look upon God. He leads us and protects us. But, after awhile we only see the safety and wonder why we need God. Are we alone not enough? Isn't our own power and minds enough?
I wonder if I'm strong enough to pray that God will show me my weakness. It is a fearful thing to pray that the LORD will temper us in fire.
... he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
America is rich. We are powerful. We are safe. That wealth, that power, that safety leads to us living under the illusion that it is US not GOD that is enough. It is very hard for us, you and me ... the wealthy, to rely upon God enough to realize we need saved. And if you live in America do not delude yourself into thinking your are not rich. You are.
Just as the illusionist fakes you out into believing in the lie of magic. Your own wealth fakes you out into believing in the lie of your own power.
I daily wonder how close is God to crushing that illusion?
He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
I suppose the common sense version of this is to keep your mouth shut and know what you are saying. No one likes a braggart. Actually, I'm pretty sure people don't like or trust a braggart. There are times in my life that I look back at now and it makes me cringe. I suppose it is a very sad thing to look back at those times and want to erase the words. Sad, but typical.
When we turn from our old sinful life we tend to not destroy all those metal images and high places we worshiped. Back in the dusty rooms of our soul we hide our gods of lust and greed. Within the sight of our friends we continue to place on high the sins we sacrifice our money and blood towards.
By not driving them out, they forever will be bards in our eyes and thorns in are sides.
Oh yeah, we are going to take names and kick butt!
I'm sure at times that was going through the minds of the disciples as they followed Jesus. Need food for an army? Seven loaves and some small fish will feed four thousand. Need a hero? Well how about Moses and Elijah. No one kicked butt like Moses. The sea and ground will swallow up your enemies with him around.
It had to have been so hard to even imagine a savior who would die for gentiles. The disciples were coming from a time of watching Rome crush the world and force fake gods upon them. Them ... God's people. Surely God would send the Christ as a David. As a Moses. To take a firm hand and crush those who stood against God.
How could they understand that Christ was here to die?
Sometimes when I listen to these passages about Israel I'm going: "Oh COME ON! You're complaining again?!" All the while arrogantly keeping in the back of my mind that I wouldn't do that.
So I decided to really think about it. I figure with these versus we are listening to years of time. And how have I lived over just the last few years of my life? You know, I haven't been any better than the complainers in Numbers. Some times I've found myself thinking: "Well God ... what have you done for me lately."
Dear LORD, remind me of your strength and to rely on you. To be quiet in suffering and vocal in speaking the truth. To trust your hand and in the time of your plans. Amen.
We are called to be in the world but not of the world.
A risk you run in picking who you run with is in how they will affect your heart. You may be thinking that you can change them ... but it is more likely they will change you. For the worse. So we need to try and balance friendship with people who can strengthen our faith, and the lost of the world. We must not confuse the two.
Do you ever find yourself thinking more about man than God?
Which would bug you more: a friend cursing and using the LORD's name while playing basketball OR a friend asking another player to not curse while playing basketball?
So often we think about what other people think of us. In high school it is practically all we think about. I suppose in a way the rules of man are comforting because they are external to us. We can complain about them, list them, rewrite them, and break them. On the other hand God's commands are internal. We can't get away from them because He has placed them upon our heart. And over time we try to harden our hearts to keep face in front of man.
Speaking the truth isn't always easy. Many times we don't want hear it and we fear others if we would say it. Before Israel two men stood for God and all the people wanted to kill them. Kill them for not saying what THEY, the people, wanted to hear.
Speaking truth will have consequences and we should not use the truth as a stick to beat people. And we should not hold it back from them with the false hope that a soft lie will smooth things over. Speak the truth in love and let God work on their hearts.
What are the tassels in my life? Well here are a few things that remind me of God ...
One: Never place anything on my bible. I remember that from my parents when they gave me the bible I still use today. Every time I look at my bible I remember that and, sometimes, have to take stuff off of it.
Two: My phone. I've turned my phone/pda into a reminder. I keep my prayer list on it. I have all of the bible in audio and text.
Three: Dead plants. Every time I see dead plants I think of spring and burning them. And how the LORD will gather us up and burn up all the waste of our life.
Each time I've been wanting to write what struck me as I was listening to these passages. My fear for Numbers was: "Wow, that is a lot of names."
But, for this section what struck me wasn't the numbers and names. It was the tasks. In our lives God has given each of us abilities and tasks to apply those skills towards. As in the order He provided to Israel for just moving as a body of people from day to day. The only way we, as a church family, can go about our day to day tasks is by not doing everything. Rather, by doing what He has placed in front of us.
We can't expect our leaders to do it all. We are here to be the hands, feet, or even the belly button for the body of Christ.
I like the retirement plan for the Levites: They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service.
I suppose as we age we are still called to keep guard over the church. Who better to watch over the family than those that have gone through the same difficulties in life? Who better to turn to then those who have gained wisdom by looking back on their struggles or suffering?
Right now at 36 I can see and remember what those who are under 24 are going through. The temptation of sexual sin, anger, desires of social status, depression in being alone, or any other of the many rocks in their path. And those further down life's path can look at where I am now and give me guidance in getting through my current difficulties.
I suppose our retirement plan is the same today. Being on guard.
Lately I like to refer to my church family as my family by blood. The Blood of Christ.
I love my wife and kids, my parents, my brother and his family, my sister and her family, my cousins, all my in-laws, and on down the line. But, which blood is really more powerful? That which runs in my veins? Or that which was poured out on the cross?
And what a greater blessing it is when your family is bound to you by the blood in your veins and by the Blood of Christ. To know we will be going there to see our Savior and to see our family. And to know that our brothers and sisters in the Blood of Christ we be standing by their sides to greet us.
First is the blessing for those that stay the course with the LORD:
I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
Then comes the warning for those that do not follow the LORD:
But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these ... I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies ... And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power.
Do not think just because our country was blessed in the past that the blessings will continue. At one time we followed Christ. At one time (just over 100 years ago) the study of law at universities in our country was studying if the law was right according to God's law. It is easy to see that when our country was close to God, He blessed us. And it will be easy to see that as we now have fallen from Him, he will work against us. And if we continue on this path it is three strikes and you are out. Of course out means: "I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you."
What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.
Demons know Christ. Demons even fear Christ. Many of us know Christ, but then after that we just don't care. It seems the new/old thing is the: God loves me, I'm a good person, therefore He wouldn't send me to hell. And we all live happily ever after riding unicorns that eat rainbows.
Yeah, sure.
The truth of the matter is you and I are evil and full of sin. If you have listened so far from Genesis to Leviticus: you KNOW you are evil and full of sin. There are plenty of times in my life where I have failed at living the way God wants me to. Same for you.
It isn't about just knowing. It is about knowing and doing. But, we can't ever meet that standard, so thank God for his short cut: knowing and believing in Christ. Christ did the doing and He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Don't we all love getting a stomach virus? Most people call it the stomach flu, but flu is usually short for influenza which is a viral lung infection. So you should rather call it a stomach virus so as not to confuse the people who get the flu shot ( for influenza ).
Anyway, for the sake of the reader I will stick the Leviticus version of the hated problem we all get to face with the stomach bug: discharges. One word for either the "praying to the porcelain god" kind or the sitting kind. We had the wonderful joy of everyone in the family getting discharges within about two days.
And having the greatest nurse on the face of the planet like I do ... does anyone want to guess the best way to keep others from getting discharges? Consider everything you touch or wear dirty. Wash regularly. Don't touch anything the sick-ie touched or slept on. Keep your food stuff separate. And after they are all done being "sick" expect them to be still contagious for a bit. At the end of all this CLEAN EVERYTHING.
Our problem was that we were on vacation and living much closer than normal. Usually we have the 'sick bathroom' and keep the sick-ie somewhat quarantined. But, we couldn't. Interesting how useful Leviticus would be on keep the stomach virus 'plague of all plagues' from spreading.
Molech, Ba'al, Kronos, or a god by many other names was worshiped far and wide in the lands near Israel. Many years later after the city of Carthage was defeated by the Romans is was said by Cleitarchus ...
There stands in their midst a bronze statue of Kronos, its hands extended over a bronze brazier, the flames of which engulf the child. When the flames fall upon the body, the limbs contract and the open mouth seems almost to be laughing until the contracted body slips quietly into the brazier. Thus it is that the 'grin' is known as 'sardonic laughter,' since they die laughing.
God's commands about love and sacrifice are rather strange in comparison to the lands that surrounded them. But, today are we any different? Today we sacrifice our children to the gods of greed, lust, and wealth. We now have a president who argued as a senator to take newborn children and set them upon a shelf to die. A practice that still goes on today. We take the life of the unborn just because we do not want them. And fathers take the future of their children by leaving the home.
How far we are from loving others as if they are you.
Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani ... My God, my God, why have you forsaken me
If I said the words: "On a hill far away. Stood an old ....". Would you know what came next. How about "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me". Do you know what comes next?
Psalm 22
Why Have You Forsaken Me? To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
...
16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
...
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
Today we live in a time of refrigerators and anti-bacterial soap. Interesting facts about food and Leviticus ...
Did you know you hunt rabbits after the first really hard freeze? That way all the sick ones will be dead and only healthy ones are left. You really don't want to try and eat them at other times. Good way to get sick.
The gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon? Salmonella.
Huh ... God had some really good food rules for Israel.
At work we had a room with leaky windows. Over time the sheet rock on the wall got mold in it. They tore out a few pieces ... then some more ... and finally to get rid of it they had to seal the room and tear everything out.
Bet you didn't know Leviticus had the same rules for house contamination.
We have no idea what real power is. I have always disliked how Christ is portrayed in movies. All soft and wimpy.
Christ was the most powerful man to have ever lived or will ever live on the earth. With a single thought all of creation could have been wiped out. With a single word every living man on earth could have been destroyed.
For us power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And Christ was fully man. For every temptation we have had, he would have felt. Yet Christ chose not to destroy us ... even though we deserved it. Christ chose to save us.
How many of us give to Goodwill brand new clothes? The youth at our church worked at a local shelter's store sorting out the clothing people dropped off. Most of it we just threw into the trash. Would YOU want to buy torn clothes with stains? And if you can't sell it you don't put it in the store.
We are not called to give the stuff we should have thrown into the trash. We are not called to give what we do not want anymore. There are uses for items in good condition, but charities are not replacements for the trash pickup.
Is what you give for the LORD without blemish? Or was it what you thought you could do without?
As I listened to the very first part of these verses I thought of all the times I picked up someone else's penny. Or received more than what I was do. I looked in my hand knowing that what I was doing was wrong. Yet, I still closed my fist. As long as I could keep it secret ... maybe no one would know. But, I knew. And God knew.
I pray that we all listen to God when He burdens our hearts with the desire of honesty. And I pray for His forgiveness for every timed I have failed.
I love that question. So often I look first to see what others expect of me. Like most people I tend to treat my boss better than the least of the people I know ( my boss does have the power to fire me ). And, at its heart, the reason I treat him better is because it is better for ME.
Me Me Me. It is all about me. If the person on the phone was your boss and not the co-worker you hate ... would you answer differently? Would you answer at all? Helping your boss maybe a positive for you ... and anyone would do that.
But, God knows our heart. It should not matter if there is a positive outcome for us. We are called to serve. To feed and welcome and clothe and visit and love.
Ever have a "He made me do it!" moment? Growing up everyone has had lots of "they did it first" comments. And part of growing up is about admitting your mistakes and taking your lumps. None of this ...
So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.
Wow. I never knew gold would form a calf if you threw it into a fire. I so wanted a ... And Moses smacked Aaron over the head with a stick. And the LORD from heaven said: 'Are you stupid?!'
Eventually we all need to grow up and face the music. Part of becoming a new man before God is throwing off the old. Don't point fingers at those around you. Admit you have holes in your coat, take it off, and put on the new life God has given you!
Rules are so much easier to follow then the "Law of Nature". This Law of Nature is in the definition given by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. It is that voice that God has given us to know right and wrong. It is the nature of us being made in His image, and of tasting of the knowledge of good and evil. Not the law of the physical world and our physical desires as non-Christians like to believe.
Christ lays it out rather easily for us. Love God with all that you are and love others as if they are you. Of course we all already knew this, we just do not actually DO IT.
We like rules and laws because we can still sin and follow the rules. Like the child who points their finger and whines. But in our hearts, where Christ is looking, we know we are wrong.
