My Father in Heaven is Perfect

Gibby was a black Persian cat who loved catnip
and all kinds of other green snacks.
One day he bit into a hydrangea leaf
and began spitting up some green foam.
His people immediately called a poison control center
and found out that hydrangea is similar to cyanide.

Gibby survived,
but even his brush with death
did not stop his illicit snacking.
Of course as long as people were watching
Gibby learned to avoid chewing on plants.
But late at night, when his people were in bed 
they often heard a distant crunching.

They often woke up in the morning to the
lucky bamboo that wasn't so lucky,
a vase of roses minus all their petals,
or a lonely stem in a bud vase--
all casualties of Gibby's snacking. 

It's pretty clear that houseplants (and small birds)
were not safe around Gibby.
His ability to avoid snacking was entirely dependent
upon the outside coercion of his owners.

How nice it would be
if Gibby could have just understand
that the hydrangea is poisonous,
but since he could not reason
he had to be monitored.

Sadly, people often act no smarter
than ignorant animals.
In order to make the universe safe for people 
God wants to protect us from the poison of sin.
He has given us specific guidelines.
The law of love and the ten Commandments 
are our teachers
to show us how to live safely with others.

A common confusion among Christians
is a statement from Paul
that we are no longer under the law.
Many Christians assume that this means
we no longer need the Ten Commandments.

If this were true, which of the ten 
would people be comfortable
with their neighbors to breaking? 

Do we care if our neighbors steal and lie? 
At first it might seem like no big deal
for our neighbors worship idols,
but what if someone believes that their "god"
is telling them to murder other people?
Would we still feel the neighborhood was safe?

Keeping of the commandments was ever
on the minds of the Pharisees.
One day Jesus told them how to view the law:

"One of them, an expert in the law,
tested him with this question:
'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets
hang on these two commandments."

So if Jesus had a white board
I think He would diagram His law like this:

1. The Great All Encompassing Commandment of Love
"A new commandment I give you to love one another."

2."On these two hang all the law and prophets, love to God and love to man." Matthew 22:

A. Love to God

1. Have no other gods before me.
2. Do not make an idol.
3. Don't take My name in vain
4. Don't work, but enjoy My Sabbath holiday.

B. Love to Man

5. Honor you parents
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not give false testimony against others.
10. Do not covet.

Can you see how other-centered love
is the basis of all the commandments?

Just as natural laws govern gravity and speed,
God's law of love has intrinsic consequences.
These consequences are not a punishment from God,
but they are the result of breaking the law.
Just as jumping off a cliff or running a red light
have predictable results,
breaking God's law causes shame, guilt, denial
and broken relationship with God and humans.
These are intrinsic consequences rather than imposed.  

God has given humans better reasoning powers
than the animal kingdom.
Cat's may not understand that hydrangeas are poison.
But we know that selfishness is poison.
God's Law of Love represents His unselfish character.
God hopes that we will learn to be unselfish like Him,
so that we can be safe
and others can be safe around us for eternity. 

So when are we be no longer under the law?
When we first learned to drive a stick shift
we had to think about every single movement.
Once we mastered the motions
we shifted without even thinking.
The law is God's teacher
to guide us through the motions
until we automatically live out God's love.

God's law of love can neither to be thrown out
nor legalistically observed,
because it is a teaching tool to teach us how to love. 
As we spend time with Jesus,
by beholding we become changed into His image.
He will replace our heart of stone
and gives us a loving heart of flesh.

When we truly love God and others automatically,
the law itself will become irrelevant.

We Are Foolish Like Animals

I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory. 
         
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth
that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:22-26

Keeping God's Law Brings Peace

Great peace have they who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.
Psalm 119:165

God Calls Us His Friends
Because We Can Now Understand Him

No longer do I call you servants,
for a servant does not know
what his master is doing;
but I have called you friends,
for all things that I have heard
from my Father,
I have made known to you.
John 15:15

God Chose Us

You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit...
John 15:16
 
We No Longer Need
to Obey Out of Fear
 
You have not come to a physical mountain,
to a place of flaming fire, darkness,
gloom, and whirlwind,
as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 
For they heard an awesome trumpet blast
and a voice so terrible
that they begged God to stop speaking.
Hebrews 12:18,19

No, you have come to Mount Zion,
to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to countless thousands of angels
in a joyful gathering. 
You have come to the assembly
of God’s firstborn children,
whose names are written in heaven.
You have come to God himself,
who is the judge over all things...
You have come to Jesus,
the one who mediates the new covenant
between God and people,
and to the sprinkled blood,
which speaks of forgiveness
instead of crying out for vengeance
like the blood of Abel.
Hebrews 12:22-24

We Now Serve In Love

But the law no longer rules over us.
We are like dead people,
and it cannot have any power over us.
Now we can serve God
in a new way by obeying His Spirit,
and not in the old way
by obeying the written law.
Romans 7:6 

Inspirational Thoughts:

 A legal religion can never lead souls to Christ;
for it is a loveless, Christless religion.
Fasting or prayer that is actuated by a self-justifying spirit
is an abomination in the sight of God.
The solemn assembly for worship,
the round of religious ceremonies,
the external humiliation, the imposing sacrifice,
proclaim that the doer of these things
regards himself as righteous,
and as entitled to heaven;
but it is all a deception.
Our own works can never purchase salvation.

The Desire of Ages p. 280