Which Is It - "Thou Shall.." Or "Thou Shall Not.."?

I have lived in a “riverboat city” all of my life – for most of my life I lived in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri located on the mighty Mississippi river. I now live in St. Charles, Missouri located across the Missouri river from St. Louis.

The confluence of these two mighty rivers is impressive to see. And all along the length of these rivers, there are marker buoys to show the deepest channel. There is much commercial barge traffic except during the coldest icey winter months.

A passenger on a riverboat once asked the pilot if he knew where all the rocks and shoals were. The pilot smiled. “We don’t know where all the rocks are. We know where the channel is, and we stay in it.”

This is the plan by which we also may succeed. If each of us had to learn where all the hazards of life lie, if each had to experiment to find what makes life successful and what makes it miserable, if each had to try out every possible course of action to know its worth, we would utterly fail.

But thank God that we can learn from the revelation of God and the experience of others. That is why Paul wrote to his brethren at Rome that they should be “wise about that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” (Rom. 16:19).

IT JUST ISN’T NECESSARY TO KNOW ALL ABOUT EVERY WRONG THING. It is enough for us to occupy ourselves learning what is RIGHT, and then to practice it.

This is the purpose of the Word of God. It serves as our map, our guide by which we can avoid the hazards of life’s journey and arrive safely and happily at our destination. If we follow the Word’s directives, we can rejoice in the possibilities it opens to us. We can travel without fear of shipwreck. Free from the fear of reefs and rocks, we can relax and rejoice in God’s promises of safe voyage and sure haven. Above the necessity of knowing where the rocks are is the joy and freedom of knowing where they ARE NOT - where the deep channel is - and staying within its safety. This latter course restricts our freedoms, but what can surpass the peace that comes from knowing - not guessing but knowing - that we do not have to worry about tragedy.

The Word of God speaks with authority, Divine authority, which is not to be taken lightly. In the written Word, the Bible, God is speaking, telling us what to do, and what not to do, if we would be part of the Divine scheme for the Creation.

Then as we exercise our freedom as Christians, we hear the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, speaking to us from deep within our spirit. He tells us specific things, unique to us, to do and not to do. These things never contradict the written Word as we understand it and, in fact, are reinforced by the Bible.

Of course, the choice is ours. We do not have to pay any attention. We do not have to listen. We do not have to trust and obey. We are free to choose our own course in the river journey of life. But if we want what God has offered, we must choose to use this freedom in trust and obedience.

Trying to find the location of all the rocks and shoals is like trying to live life in the context of all the “shall not’s” of the Law. The Law is right and proper because it does point out the danger of the rocks. But, as the pilot said, there is a better way than traveling in fear of the rocks - STAY IN GOD’S CHANNEL!

What is that channel? The river channel of life for a Christian, a reborn child of God, is TRUST in the guidance of Christ from within our living union of Spirit. When we stay in this channel, the Law of the “rocks” is still there, but it really has very little effect on our thinking. We live in the realm of the “thou shall” rather than the “thou shall not”.

What are the “thou shall‘s” of which I speak?

Thou shall stay aware of your living union with Jesus Christ.

Thou shall recognize that there is no condemnation anymore for us as children of God and members of His Family.

Thou shall know and accept that God IS love - and no matter how we may slip up, His unconditional love for His child always remains.

Thou shall stay in remembrance of all the Biblical promises made by God to His children, both in this human life and in the life to come.

Thou shall accept that in your weakness, Christ can use you to manifest His power to the world.

Thou shall SEE that weakness at every opportunity and TRUST in the guidance of Christ.

The Holy Spirit deals with your soul on a day by day, hour by hour, even minute by minute basis, to KEEP YOU IN THE CHANNEL.

Following God’s marker “buoys”, we can travel safely and comfortably, knowing the security of the channel. We can travel in the green light of Christ’s grace and care.

NO OTHER WAY OF LIFE REALLY WORKS!
THIS WAY DOES!

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