“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things," I Corinthians 13:4-7, ESV.
My husband and I had the privilege of visiting New Zealand recently. Upon entry, the New Zealand biohazard branch of the government had posters of their strict laws informing visitors of what one can and cannot bring into their country. I read them. Yet, I believed them to be more of a request than a law.
Much to my chagrin, they take this particular law seriously and carry out the penalty instantly.
I had forgotten to declare some apples and a snack because I was planning on throwing them away once off the plane. However, I forgot to do just that.
My afternoon attitude flipped from being excited that our 18 hours in a plane were completed to “Are you kidding me!? $400.00?” What about grace? What about the fact that there were only two apple slices left!
"I have learned my lesson…."
”I’m truly sorry, Madam, I really am.”
As I continued to insist on my own way.
I cried in our taxi on the way to the harbor. Slowly, God’s grace showed up and the Holy Spirit reminded me that laws were created to be enforced. His law, like this New Zealand law, are both designed to protect and keep out anything that would hurt their own country—New Zealand or Heaven.
God’s law is just, for it keeps sin out of heaven. His penalty is a bit more severe than a $400.00 fine.
God showed me that I had become used to a relaxed mindset in regarding the law. In California, people are excused from their crimes regularly. In fact, where I live a person can walk into a store or business and steal (take that which is not rightfully yours) and walk out untouched as long as the amount doesn’t exceed $900.00! In fact, if an employee tries to stop the perpetrator, the employee can lose their job. Seriously.
I have indeed gotten soft on crime.
God used this experience to remind me that laws have enforceable penalties. He is actually more serious about enforcing His laws than New Zealand is about enforcing their laws. He also revealed that I would not have taken New Zealand’s law seriously had I gotten away with just a warning. I needed this lesson to saturate my heart and mind to make a lasting impact. And it has done just that.
I had confused man’s frivolous grace with God’s permanent grace. I was thinking, "Surely, a warning merits sufficient punishment." It did not. Neither will it suffice when we stand next to God at the end of this life. His grace is sufficient for our here and now.
If we take advantage of man’s laws by treating them with disregard or even contempt, how are we treating God’s laws?
Humility leads us if we let it. If we fight it and choose to walk in our own wisdom, humiliation ends up following us, and we find ourselves cleaning up unnecessary messes. Humility leads or humiliation follows. Our choice.
Do you obey the law? What’s your attitude when you get caught?
Father,
Thank You for being consistent with who You are. You are truly the same yesterday, today, and forever. Thank You for this important life lesson on humility before the law. Thank You that there are laws in place to protect and keep us all a bit safer.
Forgive me of my arrogance and pride in thinking I should get away with such a minor infraction. For insisting on my own way.
Thank You that this lesson has gone deeper than I originally determined it would.
Thank You that Your grace is sufficient today. Help us realize just because You tarry to inflict a penalty, that punishment is obsolete. The only way to be absolved of any penalty is to trust Your Son, Jesus, as LORD and Savior.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Philippians 2:9-11, NIV.
Help us all to confess our sins this side of Heaven.
I need Your help and patience to keep me humble. I need Your understanding in my weakness. You are God, and I am not. I was made by Your hand forming me in my mother’s womb. You have given me life, then life again—born of man and of Spirit. I am forgiven due to the deeds of Your Son—I was not there. Even if I were, would I be kneeling at the cross or hiding in the distance, watching in shame as You, King Jesus, breathed Your last breath—before You conquered death, for me?
Yet, I still argued. I still claimed innocence while holding onto the apple slices that proved my guilt. I was insisting on my own way. That’s not love at all. That’s not Your way.
Forgive me, Father. Your will be done.
Amen.
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