To Serve and Protect

The police motto is "to serve and protect". How do they go about doing that? They go after the bad guys, and they make sure that we are safe. I appreciate their sacrifices on my behalf. It can't be easy to have a job like that where you put your life on the line every day, and so many people still look at you in fear and sometimes contempt. God must feel like the police sometimes.

Before God ever gave the Law to His people, he redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. He answered their cries and saved them from this most difficult life. Then, He gave them laws. Laws that would set them apart from the nations around them. Laws that would keep them from worshipping powerless idols, laws that would strengthen their nation, laws that would help them to live in safety, peace and unity with one another. God gave laws that would protect His people from their own sinful, selfish ways. By following God's laws, the Israelites would prosper. They would grow in number, strength and wealth. They would live the good life. Following the law perfectly would protect you from death and hell.

The Law was also given to serve us. We know we can not follow the law perfectly. If we are honest, most of us can admit to breaking the law before breakfast everyday. The law serves us by reminding us that we, in our weakness, can not keep it perfectly. We need someone to do it for us. We need a Savior. The Law points us to our inability to save ourselves. Christ HAD to come, HAD to live a perfect life, HAD to give us His righteousness, HAD to pay the price for sin, and HAD to rise again with power over death and hell. If he had not, we would all be lost. The Law reminds us daily of what it is that Christ accomplished on our behalf. It serves to ignite in us an appreciation for God's grace in our lives. It helps us to learn to be merciful ourselves.

We, as Christians, no longer need to fear God. Our debt has been paid. We have been given righteousness and are seen by God through the blood of Christ. We have been forgiven. We no longer hold God in contempt. We are not His enemy, but his sons and daughters. We appreciate the many gifts He has given us, including the Law that both serves and protects us.