righteousness

As the current overly-used saying goes, often life does really come at us fast. It can come so fast that it’s hard to focus on the right things. When I commanded the 734th, we had a sign in the Operations room that said, “When you’re up to your armpits in alligators, it’s hard to remind yourself that you’re really here to drain the swamp.”

I wonder, though, if sometimes I don’t make life too complicated. Maybe the whole “life comes at you fast” thing becomes an issue only because I’m trying to live the wrong kind of life.

I’m thinking that this morning because at the end of Moses’ long reminder to the Israelites of
God’s goodness on their long trail to where they were, I read this, from Deuteronomy 6:24-25:

“The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Life can be pretty easy, if I just remember what it’s all about. Obey God and fear him. Those aren’t things on a schedule or to do list, they’re choices. They’re choices we make in the midst of all those calendar and taskers that make up what we think of as life.

I think remembering this might reduce tension in my days, because tension only develops between conflicting things that have near-equal precedence in my mind – like Dawn wanting me home on time but my boss wanting me to work late. Nothing should ever be of equal importance to obeying God, and anything that comes into conflict shouldn’t be part of my life anyway.

Too simplistic? Sure. But basic principles often seem simplistic. In the same way that the Pharisees developed more than 60 volumes of rules to ensure obedience to the relatively simple laws of Moses, I think I try to codify something that should be relational. That’s what makes obedience complicated.

Maybe obedience can be as simple as this: Love God above everything, and love other people the way I love myself. Jesus said that’s the basis of all of God’s law. Simply asking how I would want someone else to act in my circumstances shouldn’t be hard.

The reward these verses promise is worth it – in fact, it’s really a promise to fulfill the purpose of my life. My righteousness, Moses says, is what will come of my obedience.