02/07/12 - His rules

Exodus 20-22:15

Wow! That is a lot of rules. And these don't even contain the ones man added to them. And how many of them I have/will break.

Right off the bat - Exodus 20:3 "No other gods, only me."

Many, many times I have broken it. Each and every moment is a constant fight not to break this one. Through my study of His Word, I have come to the conclusion there are only two gods in this life - Him - the great "I AM" or me - self.

My serving of self leads me to the worship of all other things that I put before Him. All the things that will end up separating me from Him when I put self first. I become consumed with pleasing me - not Him. I am my main focus. It is totally about me. And in doing that - life really will fall apart. I am not God - I can not hold it all together. I will/do fail. I am not God.

I am so thankful though that He knows my heart better then even I do. That He knows it yearns to please Him. That He knows I am a woman after His own heart. How thankful I am that the Holy Spirit interceeds for me - speaks for me - conveys for me when "self" gets in the way.

And I know that when He is my only God - life is right. Even when I have to endure the "fall out" of sin - life is right. It may not make sense at times, but He is in control. He is the one who holds it all together. All of it, not just my little world. He will not fail - He is I AM.

I will never stop being thankful that I live on this side of Christ. I am so thankful that He is the ultimate sacrifice. No other is needed. I am so thankful to be living under His grace and mercy. No animal sacrifice could do that. I am so thankful for the forgiveness that He has given me for past sins and those I will commit. For I will - I am human. Only He was perfect, without sin. Only He could be my ultimate sacrifice.

As I read the punishment for breaking these rules, I came away thinking that there would be so much less crime if we had of stuck to His punishments! And again, I am so thankful that I live on this side of Christ. There had to be a great amount of fear as they lived each day that they would break a rule. I am so blessed that because of Christ I am able to crawl up into my Abba's lap and be that close to Him. Even when I break rules! To live in the security that I am covered. It doesn't give me the feelings of wanting to break the rules because I am free. It motivates me to try and please Him because of His great love.

The rules were set because He knew they were needed. He knew how much we as humans would/do fail. Without rules life would have no order. So even though I can not keep every rule, I do need to learn to live my life accordingly. To have structure in my life. To be more Christlike in my actions.

Time after time it has been proven.

His plans. His way. His rules. They really do work.