A
couple of weeks ago, I had my monthly Chiropractic treatment in
Wesley Chapel and then began the trip home. After a few minutes a
police car began following me. And he kept following me. Whenever I
turned, he turned – it made me nervous. I am a good driver
(everybody thinks they are) but why was that cop following me? Did I
do something wrong? Was there some sort of outstanding warrant that I
wasn’t aware of? Why did he just keep following and following and
following. Finally, though, he turned onto another street. Frankly, I
felt just like the small dog in the picture – paranoid.
Fast
forward to this morning, its 1:30 in the A.M. I can’t sleep. Then I
remember the episode with the patrol car and I thought about the
picture of the dog with another (and much bigger) dog following him.
Then it hit me – that is just how a faithful Jew must have felt
under the law. Did the Jew often think that God was watching him,
just waiting for him to do something against HIS law? Had he
forgotten just one of the smallest commandments and committed a sin?
And then I remembered the following passage from the Apostle Paul’s
letter to the Galatians…
Galatians
3 ( World English
Bible )
6 Even
as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness.” 7 Know
therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of
Abraham. 8 The
Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all
the nations will be blessed.” 9 So
then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful
Abraham. 10 For
as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is
written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things
that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
Truth:
nobody’s perfect; everyone makes mistakes. God’s Law under the
Old Testament was perfect, but since we are not – we have a
problem. The Good News is, God has given us grace through the
sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Those who do their best to do God’s
will can be forgiven because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
So,
the next time I notice a police car behind me, I will try to remember
this passage and not be paranoid. Besides, my truck is bigger than a
puny police cruiser, anyway! How
nice it is to be the BIG DOG on the block. On second thought…
forget everything I just said and just do your best to stay out of
trouble.