"Isn't That the Point?"

As I continue to work on our sermon series on the Ten Commandments, there have been many times when I feel entirely inadequate. Any serious contemplation of God's standard of perfect, holy righteousness is bound to leave us feeling that way. Last week, I struggled with my own failings to regard my "Sabbath" time as truly holy and totally dedicated to the Lord; too often I'm willing to compromise, reschedule, interrupt, ignore, or even use the day as an excuse for just being lazy. But I continue to strive to pace myself and to carve out time to cultivate my relationship with God and simply enjoy the infinite blessings he has poured out. Based on a suggestion from Margo, I'm going to try a different approach this week to setting aside extended time for refreshment, and that's going to require a different attitude toward some of my responsibilities.

Margo also offered me this absolutely incredible insight this morning when I was whining a bit about my inadequacy for yet another week's topic. On Sunday, we'll be looking at the challenge to honor our parents. One of the points I'll touch on is how parents have the opportunity to make it easy to honor them by simply being honorable. And as I think about that idea, my mind wanders back to all those times when I've made it difficult for my kids to honor me -- times when I've been too angry or severe, times when I haven't listened well to them, times when I've been too busy to invest in them the way that I should. In many ways, I think I've done a good job as a dad. But there are many, many things I wish I could go back and do differently.

So I was telling Margo this morning that the more I look at the various commandments and their full implications as illustrative of "loving God and loving others," the more inadequate I feel. Without missing a beat, Margo fired back, "Well, isn't that the point?"

Doesn't the Law ultimately show us that we are morally inadequate and in need of redemption? "Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins." (Galatians 3:19, NLT) Oh yeah. That's right. On the one hand, the Law illustrates what a life of loving God and loving others looks like (particularly in the context of the nation of Israel as they settled in the Promised Land), and provokes us to pursue righteousness in our own lives. On the other hand, it reminds us that we are desperately in need of God's grace.

Always nice to be reminded of the truth. Now pardon me while I go spend some time in prayer thanking God for his grace, his leadership, and his redeeming power.