“Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7, NIV)
In the beginning, there was only one rule. For humanity, that is. “You may eat of any tree in the garden,” the LORD told Adam and Eve, “but do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” That’s it. One rule. They could not keep it.
If we can remember that God constrained himself for our sake, we may stop justifying our sins and obey the Lord instead.We often discuss the motivation of Eve’s sin. She was allured by the look or the smell of the fruit. She was swayed by the deceptions of the serpent. She wanted to be like God. Whatever it was, Adam followed her down this path. What we do not explore so commonly is their justification. But if it went like so many lines of justification we hear today, it went like this: “Oh, this can’t hurt anyone. It’s only a piece of fruit.”
The Rules of Golf, as Jeffrey Cranford and Matt MacConnell discuss so clearly in today’s accompanying video, are put in place not only to constrain one player but to protect the whole field. We don’t follow the rules only for our own sake; we follow them because without them the competition would be ruined for all. Adam and Eve apparently did not understand life like this. But God did. And he followed the rules for our sake as much as for his.
How is this so?, you might ask. Let’s begin with the fact that by the time Adam and Eve came onto the scene, the universe was ticking like clockwork. The rotation of Earth on its axis and its revolution around the sun, in addition to the location and gravitational pull of Earth’s moon—these made Adam and Eve’s lives possible. After our planet was set in place like this, God did not allow himself to “get creative” and randomly tweak the factors sustaining life. He adhered to the rules.
Likewise, God had in mind just consequences for that first sin—a sentencing law, if you will. Despite his love for Adam and Eve, God cast them from the garden and set an angelic guard against their returning, again following his own rules.
Finally, there is this: God ordained the rule that only the blood of an unblemished lamb could undo the sins that Adam and Eve committed, that you and I would commit. And God adhered to that rule, sending his only Son to die on our behalf. Everything in us may rebel against the constraint of rules, especially the rules of God. But if we can remember that God constrained himself for our sake, we may stop justifying our sins and obey the Lord instead.
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Jeff Hopper
July 27, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THIS SERIES:
An Order to it All 1: Rules and Grace
An Order to it All 3: The Best Option
An Order to it All 4: How Rules Help Us
An Order to it All 5: Love and Obedience
An Order to it All 6: Diverse Practices