God's Law -- written on our hearts

One day a number of years ago, I peeled a bunch of potatoes and shoved the skins down our garbage disposal.  A few minutes later, our son started shouting from the basement that there was something leaking down the wall.

Yup, you guessed it, the disposal had started shaking so violently that it became unattached and the liquefied potato peel water started running down the basement wall.  It wasn’t pretty.

I said to my husband the other day, “There are too many rules about the garbage disposal!  I don’t know what it can handle! Do eggshells go in?  What about the tops of our strawberries?”

Too many rules can be hard to follow, but most are made for good reason.  There is one very simple truth that God gave the Israelite people.  From the Prophet Jeremiah (Chapter 31, Verse 33b):  “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

It is called a covenant, and it is something God will never break.  We, of course, can reject, ignore or simply walk away from it, but God never will. The great thing about God’s covenant with his people (which includes us today), is that it isn’t hard to follow and doesn’t require learning a bunch of rules.

In the first part of verse 33, the Lord says, “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts.”

This is a significant passage in the Old Testament.  Here’s what the footnote for this section says:

“Its law will be written in the heart, not merely on tablets of stone; The knowledge of God will be so generally shown forth in the life of the people that it will no longer be necessary to put it into words of instruction.”

Read that again.  Ponder it for a minute.

This statement reflects how prominently our faith should shine through our words and actions.  Think about it.  Is that the case today?  If not, what might you need to do to give greater evidence of your faith?

We do continue to need instruction in the faith today.  Words matter.  Even John the Baptist used words when he pointed out Christ to those who followed him by stating, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). A solid combination of words and actions go a long way.  

Of course, I would not recommend you being as aggressive with people as I was with my potato peels.  Remember, the law of God is already within everyone’s heart.  Sometimes, our work, implicit in St. Paul’s words, is simply to “stir into flame the gift of God.” (2 Tim 1:6)

God bless,

Janet Cassidy

Janetcassidy.com