Following the Rules

   Some people think that the Bible is just a bunch of rules. "Do this, do that," or "don't do this, don't do that," is how many people view Christianity. The first five books of the Old Testament - the Torah - contain (by many estimates) 613 laws. These rules covered everything from sacrifices and cleansing rituals to family life and foreign relations. There was a rule for almost everything. Many people assume that Christianity is like Old Testament Judaism. But not even Old Testament Judaism was about rules.

   When Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of twenty-five, he was replacing a ruler who, like many other Old Testament kings, was not a godly one. King after king in Judah's royal line ruled in defiance of God and His ways. But things would be different with Hezekiah. As soon as he sat on the throne he began sweeping reforms to wipe out idolatry and to reaffirm Judah's allegiance to God and God alone. The Bible tells us that Hezekiah

"trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following Him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him" (2 Kings 18:5-7).

Judah had a revival. The people were excited to be returning to the God of their fathers, and they were ready to be ceremonially cleansed for the celebration of the Passover. However, the time set to celebrate the Passover was quickly approaching, and there would not be time for all of the people to be made clean before the Passover began. Hezekiah saw the impending problem: many people of Israel and Judah would want to partake of the Passover, but would not meet the requirement of being ceremonially clean. Hezekiah prayed:

"'May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness'". And next we read, "And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people" (2 Chronicles 30:18-20).

   During one of Jesus' many encounters with the strict rule-keeping Pharisees, He called them '"whitewashed tombs,"' a vivid word picture of a place without life yet decorated to look nice on the outside. In other words, the Pharisees were putting on a good show of serving God with their actions, but not with the attitudes of their hearts. For example, the Pharisees were so strict in their tithing that they even gave a tenth of their spices like mint and cumin, yet they were neglecting the more important matters such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus told them, "'So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness'" (Matthew 23:28; see also Matthew 23:23-24). When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees reprimanded Him for "working" on the Sabbath, as they focused on the letter of the law and completely missed the intent of it. Instead of kindly shepherding the people Israel, the Pharisees, as Israel's spiritual leaders, chose to impose more exacting rules on Israel than those that God required. Jesus taught that the Pharisees' rules did not help them gain eternal life - only a heart right with God gives that.
 
   The Israelites who ate the Passover during Hezekiah's reign had not followed all the rules. Yet they did right. The Pharisees rigidly calculated their every move in order to keep all 613 laws of the Torah. Yet they were the unwashed tombs. "The Lord says: 'These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men'" (Isaiah 29:13). Maybe we follow all the rules, but where do the allegiances of our heart lie? What is our heart attitude? Yes, there are rules, and they are meant to be followed, but the Bible is about so much more than that. "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8). God desires a humble spirit and a heart that seeks Him. No rule can duplicate a heart attitude. Christianity is not a religion of rules, because no matter how many rules we follow, "the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

Filled Up

The other day I was really hungry.  REALLY hungry.  I could've eaten anything!  (Okay, not anything.  But close.)

While I was hungry for edible food, Jesus taught us in the Beatitudes about another kind of hunger: "'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied'" (Matthew 5:6). Righteousness is right standing with God, but we can't get that on our own.  Jesus gives it to us (1 Corinthians 1:30 and Philippians 3:9) when we trust Him alone and repent of our sin.  Righteousness is Christ-likeness; we must be close to Christ to be like Him, to be righteous.  But what does it mean to hunger for righteousness?

When my little brother was a baby, he let us know when he was hungry.  Once he decided that he was ready for a bottle, he wanted it immediately, and he screamed until he got it!  Nothing else would satisfy him.  "Like newborn babies," Peter wrote, "crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation" (1 Peter 2:2).  When we're spiritually hungry, we should settle for nothing less than that which alone will ultimately satisfy.  Trying to satisfy our hunger with anything else is like giving a starving man a Hershey's kiss - it tastes good but doesn't help the hunger or give any nutrition.  No little baby would settle for anything but the bottle; we must not settle for anything less than God's Word.

We are not to be proud of our righteous acts.  The Bible says that sometimes the righteous begin to trust in their righteousness instead of God's mercy and then they commit evil (Ezekiel 33:13).  Righteousness is God's gift to those who believe in Him and repent (Philippians 2:13).  To hunger for righteousness is to hunger to be like God - to put Him first and to bring glory to Him, not to earn our own way to Heaven or impress those around us.  Righteousness is something God gives to us; we must give the glory to God for our righteous acts and not try to steal the glory for ourselves.

“To know You is to want to know You more,” the song testifies (Casting Crowns, "To Know You"). Matthew 5:6 holds one of the greatest promises in the Bible.  "'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...'"  Now, hungering and thirsting are not pleasant experiences.  They're worth it, though, "'...for they shall be satisfied.'"  He will not leave us hungry, or give us sweet but non-filling treats.  We will be filled.  As the famous psalm tells us, "my cup overflows" (Psalm 23:5).

Photo Credit: Simon Howden from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Nothing Short

"In my deepest heart I know that some of us have to face our comfortable,
self-oriented lives all over again.

The times are too tragic, God's sorrow is too great,
man's night is too dark,the Cross is too glorious

for us to live as we have lived, in anything short of

holy obedience."


Thomas Kelly