Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A Step in the Right Direction

Jeremiah 7:24 KJV
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

Scofield points out that God did not command Israel concerning sacrifices until after they had broken the Ten Commandments.

The original appeal of the Lord was, "…Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you." After breaking that commandment God then established the system of offerings and sacrifices.

It was a step backward for Israel, not a step forward.

And so it is in our day. This highly organized and ornate system of religious works that has been devised by men is a step back. God's intent is that we simply meet with Him (on the basis of the shed blood of Christ) and obey His leading. Anything more structured than that is a step in the wrong direction.

One might argue that because we have already stepped back this structure is necessary to bring us back into obedience. I suggest that such an argument is only another sign of backward progression.

We need to get back to obedience to Christ's two great commandments,
• Love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and
• Love our neighbor as ourselves

That will be a step in the right direction.

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