God's Law Is Unchanging

 

 

I read an article about old laws that are still on the books.  It’s reported that you can’t step repeatedly on the cracks on the sidewalk along highways in Utah. I’m sure all the mothers in Utah rest easier knowing this is the law!  You can’t hide a coin behind your ear in Hawaii. Riding a camel on a highway is illegal in Nevada, although you may do so on a city street.

 

I talked in my last post about how God is unchanging and everlasting, that the God you pray to today is the same God who performed all the miracles we read about in the Old Testament. It’s also true that He is the same God who gave us the Law, who gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and many other rules for living. There are ceremonial and religious laws in the Old Testament that are no longer applicable.  In contrast, God’s moral laws are unchanging. The Ten Commandments have not been repealed. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18).

 

We live in a time when many people decide on their own what is right and wrong and ignore God’s law. Anyone who stands up for God and His teaching may find themselves being labeled as intolerant or bigoted.

 

Paul advised Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim 6:12) and, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim 4:2). Paul’s advice is useful to us as well. We have a responsibility to uphold God’s law in our own lives and to encourage others to do the same. Our attitude is important. We can’t change God’s word to make it more palatable but we should present it without being judgmental.  Our goal should be to lift up and restore and not to put down and condemn.  

 

God gave us His law for our good. Let it be a blessing to you as it was to the psalmist.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord…..He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1:1-3).