Life is a gauntlet of rules and regulations we run at our peril. Some of the rules we aren’t even aware of, and we break them just living from day to day. It’s lucky for us they aren’t enforced, or we would all be sent to prison on a regular basis.
The proof? In Alabama, a person can be sentenced to hard labor for playing dominoes on Sunday. In Montana, women can be arrested for fishing alone. In Maine, after mid-January, we can be ticketed for not removing all Christmas decorations. In one town in Maine, we cannot spit from a second-story window.
In January of 2014, North Carolina experienced one of the coldest months on record. One law on the books requires certain companies to cease burning natural gas in extreme weather. By not conforming, one company’s natural gas bill for the month leaped from under $10,000 to over $100,000. The bulk of the increase came from fines and penalties for breaking the law.
Thank goodness for compassion. A request was made by the energy provider to reduce this and another company’s bill to actual usage, as the law is rarely invoked. For the second company, that would reduce their bill from about $80,000 (for 5 days of service) to under $30,000.
That is how our God views our transgressions. Psalm 25:10 tells us that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
What does this tell us? If we do our best to follow God’s rules, he will treat us with compassion. Just as that $100,000 natural gas bill was perfectly legal, and the penalties were clearly stated in the rule books, so the circumstances told of a stumble that was made in error. God takes that into account with us. Did we stumble, or did we break his laws with arrogance and lack of remorse? That makes a difference to him.
Will dominoes really earn hard labor in Alabama, or fishing in Montana earn jail time? Certainly not. Even though the laws are still on the books, the sentences have been permanently postponed. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Yet, in the very next verse, we read that Jesus came to postpone our prison sentence.
Permanently.
We don’t even have to pay the fine.
God knows we are human, and he knows we will stumble. However, he has provided the pardon, and that pardon comes in the one we call Jesus.
Copyright © 2014 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.D.27.14.vp