From The Crucible (by Pastor Linda Pugsley)

© Bill McCown | www.myghcf.com

"Be careful, you'll shoot your eye out!" Anyone from my generation grew up hearing that as a response to a young boy's query on the possibility of owning a BB gun. The movie, "A Christmas Story" is a hilarious recounting of that more innocent time, when the children received lots of instructions on the do's and don'ts of life. "Wear your hat so you won't get a cold"; "put on your boots to go out in the rain"; "eat your spinach to grow up strong". Heck, they even had a cartoon character named Popeye who showed his arm muscles popping up larger after he ate a can of the green stuff!

Those rules weren’t rules for the sake of rules or to keep a parent in control of your life. They were the guidance of a life lived more wisely. Following them, for the most part, brought you a healthier, stronger more stable life. If we do that for the natural life to provide safer, healthier choices, how much more so does God do that for his children? Did you ever look at the Ten Commandments in that light? It really isn't a bunch of "don'ts" but rather a bunch of "do’s". Don't you think that the great Creator God who put us together with all that we see and hear would know best for how it is all to be managed?

The Ten Commandments aren't a punishment but rather protection...from yourself. The broken Adam nature we’re born with tends to disrupt, stain, break and wreck most of what it touches. God knows we need boundaries not to restrict us but to rescue us. Integrity, sexual purity, sobriety, service to others, excellence in all you do – these aren't stupid rules from some Providential Prude...they are directions to a path of strength, success, deeper relational bonds, rooted families, thriving businesses, better health, etc. These are helps not hindrances. They bring a very needed order to very disorderly lives. Get so busy doing the do’s that you have no time for the don'ts. Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold!

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