A Thought

“Be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:7

The people of Israel were on the border to Canaan, the land to which the Lord had promised to lead them.  Moses had passed away, so the mantle of leadership had been handed over to Joshua.  Joshua had been told by the Lord, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.  I will not leave you nor forsake you” (vs 5d). Then this certain promise of assurance was followed by the certain conditions to “observe the law” – “do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left” – that is, don’t add to it as you see fit, and don’t take away according to your own desires.  The Lord was speaking in no uncertain terms: follow Me on My path, not the path of your own choosing.

We Christians should not be so afraid of the Law that to observe it we are more afraid of what our neighbors may think of us.  And we must not get so bound up in St. Paul’s statement that “we are not under law” that we forget obedience to the Lord is about the Law.  This is how we are defined seven days a week, by how we live and how we work AND how we worship.

Christ is the Law and the prophets fulfilled; that is, “perfected”. The Law is not about what we “shalt not” do; it is about what we are honored to do for our God, for His Church, and for one another so that we may be all we are created to be: a freed people not bound to rules and regulations, not bound to sin and death; but bound to one another in our Holy Father so that all may prosper and live well.

Blessings,

Michael