like boogers in the wind

You know, we haven't played Balderdash in Sunday School in a while... Let's do one now real quick, one of those crazy laws...

Ok, guess which one is correct: In Alabama, it is illegal to:

1) flick boogers into the wind.

2) have an ice cream cone in your back pocket.

3) sell peanuts after sundown on Wednesday.

4) wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.

5) drive a car without windshield wipers.

Some laws seem absolutely ridiculous. But they were all instituted for some reason. All five of those laws are actually real ones (according to dumblaws.com anyway). There must have been incidents where these things occurred that made some lawmaker put these laws into effect... Like why does McDonald's coffee say Caution Hot? Cause some lady sued them after she burned herself on their hot coffee. Laws may seem weird and outdated but generally have some sort of reason behind them.

[Galatians 3:21-22: Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.  But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.]

God did not just arbitrarily put laws into the Bible. There are reasons for why he made the rules He did. Some of them are for the people's health and safety-they didn't have refrigerators to keep food fresh or the FDA making sure things are served properly. Telling them not to eat certain things helped them not get sick. Some laws are to give healthy boundaries for living in community with other people-I’d be annoyed if my neighbor was borrowing my donkey without permission. Some laws are given to make it clear what is sin and what it not-although it can be summed up as love God and love others, we can be a little thick and need the specifics spelled out for us.

Jesus came to abolish the law. His death and resurrection brought us the new covenant. We are now under grace not the law. The verses today are talking about that idea. Does the law contradict promises of God? Certainly not!

In his book, Uprising, Erwin McManus addresses grace and the law. He says “The law says do not murder; grace says that we are not even to hate our enemies, but to love our enemies. The law says do not commit adultery; grace frees us from having lust in our hearts for another man's wife. The law says to give 10% to tithe; grace says be generous, we would never stop you at 10%. You can give 20, 30, 40% of your income if you'd like. Grace is never less than the law. Grace is not freedom to live beneath the law, but to live beyond the law.”

Don’t think that I’m telling you that you must follow everything the law says. Verses 22-23 talk about the law imprisoning us. It’s impossible to live up to it. But just because we are under grace, we cannot ignore all the law has to say. God didn't get rid of the law so we can live however we please. He wants us to be able to focus on loving Him and loving others and not get caught up in the legalistic details.

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These are devotionals written for the teens. A handful of us are taking turns writing, so it may seem like sporadic passages. It all flows nicely for the teens in their devo books though.