God's Law: Made To Be Kept

Now we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, immoral persons, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

“Rules are made to be broken.”

How many times have we heard this saying?

How many times have we used this saying to justify some miscreant act of ours?

I know I have used it more times than I want to admit.

Does that make the saying true? Do we in fact make rules just so that we can break them?

Perhaps some people do exactly that.

Yet even if the saying is true, even if we do make rules simply that we may break them, what does that say about the rules we make? Are such rules an expression of what is right or an expression of what is wrong?

If such rules are an expression of what is right, then our choice to break them is an intentional choice to do that which is wrong.

If such rules are an expression of what is wrong, then our choice to break them may be an intentional choice to do that which is right—but the act of making the rules is therefore an intentional choice to do that which is wrong.

If rules are made to be broken, then invariably they involve a choice to do that which is wrong. They involve a choice to do that which we acknowledge we should not do, simply by virtue of our identifying the act as “wrong”.

If we know we should not do a thing, why would we do it? Why would we defend doing it? Why would we attempt to make doing it into some sort of virtue?

There are perhaps many reasons. The most obvious reason is simple hypocrisy—we know it is wrong but we wish to do it anyway. Defending doing the wrong thing might be simply an aversion to accountability—we do not want to pay the penalty for the wrongful act.

It is certain that no one would, given a choice, want to pay any penalty. All things being equal, if we can avoid a penalty, we usually will seek to do so. Certainly that is a choice I have made more than once in my life.

We must consider, therefore, the possibility that rules are not “made to be broken”. We must consider the possibility that rules are made to be kept. We must consider the possibility that rules are what define the boundaries between what we should and should not do.

We must consider the possibility that rules may tell us what is right and what is wrong.

Yet this also leads us into that same dilemma. If rules tell us what is right, why do we choose to break the rules and do what we know is wrong?

Could it be that the rules are sometimes wrong?

That is certainly a possibility if the rules are made by people. We are imperfect beings, and we create imperfect things. Rules which we craft are therefore going to be imperfect. Sometimes, rules we craft are going to be wrong.

Yet rules which are made by God—which is to say, God’s Law—are by definition perfect. The nature of God’s Law is that it is always right. The nature of God’s Law is that it is the definition of what is right.

Why does this need to be said?

That answer is easy: as imperfect beings we do not always know what is right, and we do not always choose what is right. We sin because we sometimes choose what is wrong. That is the essence of sin.

A man who is perfect in righteousness and godliness never need worry about God’s Law, as such a man will naturally do what is right in every circumstance.

There has been only one man who is perfect in righteousness and godliness. His name is Jesus. Everyone else must contend with imperfection and a certain lack of both righteousness and godliness.

Thus we who are sinners and not saints need God’s Law. We need to seek God’s Law daily, for that is the only way we can ascertain what is right and what is wrong. We who are imperfect know—because of our imperfection—that our view of right or wrong is not to be trusted; whatever else we might think we know, we always know that much.

When we choose faith—when we choose to embrace God and seek closer communion with God—we choose to trust God’s Law above all else, and especially above any rules made by men. Understanding that our apprehension of right and wrong is flawed, we choose to trust that God’s Law is perfect.

God’s Law is not a rule that is ever made to be broken. God’s Law is the rule that is to be followed in every circumstance. God’s Law is the rule that we should want to follow in every circumstance, because God’s Law is the rule that will guide us along the best path, towards the best outcomes.

That is the promise of God’s Law. That is God’s promise to us.

My prayer this day is that I will always be mindful of God’s Law. My prayer this day is that I will always seek to know God’s Law. My prayer this day is that I will choose to follow God’s Law—to choose to do that which is right and not that which is wrong.

My prayer for you this day is that you will be mindful of God’s Law. My prayer for you this day is that you will come to know God’s Law. My prayer for you this day is that you will choose to follow God’s Law—to choose to do that which is right and not that which is wrong.

Some rules—man’s laws—may be made to be broken. God’s rules—God’s Law—is made to be kept.