ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

Accurately Following Instructions

Romans 9:31-32a
...but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.

 

I have been working with my nine year old daughter Amanda on following directions -- precisely. Children at this age have difficulty with detailed instructions (as do many adults for that matter), so we've been playing around -- trying to improve. A few days ago, Amanda was helping me with a project in the backyard. I said, "Amanda, go into the garage and get a rag from the bin, my medium sized crescent wrench, and a pencil from the drawer in my workbench." Amanda nodded, and then ran off to complete the assignment. She came back a few minutes later with one of her Mom's hand towels from the kitchen, my pliers, and a pencil from her desk. "Here you go Dad," she proudly stated. I smiled and hugged her, "Good try, but let's go over the directions one more time."

In the same way, I think God gave the Jews the Mosaic Law knowing in advance they would never be able to satisfy its requirements. Why? Galatians 3:24 gives us the answer: "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." Israel made the mistake of thinking righteousness was something to be earned rather than given as a gift by God in exchange for faithfulness. So off they ran to complete an assignment without all the information necessary to finish the task. They were so preoccupied with pursuing righteousness that when Jesus arrived, they didn't recognize Him. They didn't realize He was the very righteousness they sought.

 

I asked Amanda for a medium sized crescent wrench. She gave me a pair of pliers. Close but not what I asked for. My point in working with Amanda was to get her to ask more questions before running off -- and by doing so gaining a better understanding of what I really wanted. I think that's what God wants from us as well. To seek Him and His will -- not rush off to do things our own way. I think 1 Chronicles 28:19 is a great illustration of this point: "'All this,' David said, 'I have in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan.'" Do you lack understanding? Do you feel as if you've missed the mark? Is your Christian life deficient in some way? What details have you missed? Go back to the Lord's written instructions -- His holy Word. What have you overlooked?

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