I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:33
Laws are good things, sometimes. Their basic design is to help us humans live together in this world without chaos. They are intended to help us live peaceful, loving lives - lives that honor God, ourselves and neighbor. Unfortunately, we imperfect humans can create laws that don't necessary work out to be a good thing. Our egos take charge and we create laws that would protect only certain people; or we create laws that have harmful consequences. We do our best, but sometimes our best is misguided.
There is a perfect law, however, and that is the law of God. It isn't a law written in words, but on our hearts. This law is also called our conscience. We are created by God in love and for love. God has gifted us with an innate knowledge that will let us know the difference between right and wrong. One of the challenges of the life is to discern what is the law written upon our hearts and how we need to apply it to our lives.
Discernment is not an easy task. It takes time and practice. It takes time to discover what is ego-driven, fear-motivated, or just plain laziness compared to something that God-driven, selfless, and life-giving. It takes time to know ourselves and to develop a relationship of trust with God. It takes time apart from the busy-ness and opinions of the world. But, with diligence and practice, we will soon find that our conscience will become stronger and clearer. We will know we are children of God and we will make decisions accordingly. We will also know that when we fail, and we surely will, God will grace us with forgiveness and guide us back to our hearts.
Prayer: Loving God, we come to you today with such thanks that you have written your law on our hearts. Help us to seek this law as we live our daily lives instead of letting our own egos be our guide, so that we may be disciples of your light and love in our communities.
There is a perfect law, however, and that is the law of God. It isn't a law written in words, but on our hearts. This law is also called our conscience. We are created by God in love and for love. God has gifted us with an innate knowledge that will let us know the difference between right and wrong. One of the challenges of the life is to discern what is the law written upon our hearts and how we need to apply it to our lives.
Discernment is not an easy task. It takes time and practice. It takes time to discover what is ego-driven, fear-motivated, or just plain laziness compared to something that God-driven, selfless, and life-giving. It takes time to know ourselves and to develop a relationship of trust with God. It takes time apart from the busy-ness and opinions of the world. But, with diligence and practice, we will soon find that our conscience will become stronger and clearer. We will know we are children of God and we will make decisions accordingly. We will also know that when we fail, and we surely will, God will grace us with forgiveness and guide us back to our hearts.
Prayer: Loving God, we come to you today with such thanks that you have written your law on our hearts. Help us to seek this law as we live our daily lives instead of letting our own egos be our guide, so that we may be disciples of your light and love in our communities.
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