Barney Fife: Now here at the Rock we have two rules. Memorize them
until you can say them in your sleep. Rule number one: obey all rules.
Rule number two: no writing on the walls
until you can say them in your sleep. Rule number one: obey all rules.
Rule number two: no writing on the walls
During a tour of the Mayberry Jail, Deputy Barney Fife told the crowd,
“there are two rules in the jail, first rule is obey all rules. The second,
don’t write on the walls because it is hard to get off.” Obey all rules. That
one sticks with me. I remember a woman I knew in San Diego who worked for OSHA,
who told me “it is impossible for me to know all the rules, but I can promise
you I can walk into any business and find something wrong.” Gives new hope in
the meaning “hi I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” But rules are
everywhere, and are made to protect us, often times from ourselves. And from
writing on the walls. An old joke on Laugh In, when before Pigmeat Markham
playing the judge, he tells the guilty party “30 dollars or 30 days.” And the
defendant replies “I’ll take the $30!” As if he was given a choice of a prize.
I have been given tickets for 56 in a 55, and let go for riding over 100 in the
same speed limited area. Sometimes it has to do with no officer present, or as
in the stretch between Escondido and Temecula on I-15, law enforcement every
couple of miles. Always with someone pulled over. The worst case is outside
Junction, Texas on I-10, the number 1 speed trap in the US of A. Where I got
pulled over and cited for 76 in a 70 zone, and the sheriff was back in his
Bronco and across the freeway giving another before we could get back on the
bike. Revenue enhancement I call it, free money to the county, nothing about
protecting and serving. At least the Colorado Highway Patrol officer who nailed
Rex at 70 in a 55 was honest, he only ticketed Rex, as he told me he couldn’t
reload the radar gun in time to get me also. So even within the rules, there
are rules. Just to see that we obey the rules. And if a government official
from OSHA can’t know them all, how can we? Maybe we need a Mayberry approach to
life, “obey all rules.” Just so we know what they are. But do we?
Today many advocate the 10 Commandments as how to run their lives. Or live
their lives. More laws. Given by God to Moses, because his people were
unruly-without rules. 10 of them, 4 of how to have a relationship with God, but
6 with man. Does that mean it is easier to please God than man? Does God judge
easier? Good rules to live by, and taken down from over the 600 God gave to the
Jews earlier. Talk about a homework assignment, “toddy class you will memorize
the first 50 laws of Moses...” is that a rule? But even ten was too much for
any mortal man to comprehend, and the way the law is stated, you have to be
guilty of it to be found doing it. The law does not reward, it condemns. And
only works if you are not found guilty-notice I didn’t say innocent. There is a
difference. But God is love, so he sent Jesus his son to do what the law could
not do-save us from our sin, and from the law.
Ask any seasoned Christian about the law of Jesus and they may stop and
wonder for a minute. Didn’t Jesus come to fulfill the law? Wasn’t he perfect
and didn’t break any of them? Including the over 600 original? That alone
makes him unique. But when leaving his disciples, he leaves them with two
commands, two laws. One directive. Love God with all your heart and mind.
Then love man the same. Two laws that we argue over. That we debate, and have
trouble obeying. If you think love is an emotion, you already failed, for love
is a person. God is love. And in 1 Corinthians, the love chapter, it tells us
that love is patient, etc. Describing God, in case you ever meet him. Same
with the fruit of the spirit-it describes the character of God. And to the end,
Jesus showed unwavering, unbiased, without requirement love to Judas. Knowing
Judas was to turn him over to a death sentence, he gave him the best seat at the
Last Supper. Judas sat at his right hand, the seat of preference, just as Jesus
sits at the right hand of God-the preferred seat in heaven. He offered him
chance after chance to repent, as we know Judas responded by denying Jesus, he
was driven by the spirit of Satan, instead of the spirit of God. The one sin
that keeps you form heaven, rejecting the holy spirit, who tells you how you
need Jesus, who reveals the truth of him to us, he denied. Judas died for his
own sins, Jesus died for ours. And was willing to die for Judas’ also. He
loved Judas with no reservation, no bias, even knowing his heart to the end.
That’s love. Agape, it’s called, a love only God can show for us. If only we
trusted him enough to believe his promise, “you shall do greater things...” and
there is nothing greater than God’s love. You cannot kill it, even nailed to a
cross it never died, but rose again. And today his spirit is still moving,
telling a dying world that it needs Jesus. Not demanding like the law, we love
because he loved us first. You cannot legislate love or morality. Look
around. But you can choose Jesus, for love does not demand its own way. Jesus
is a choice, so is his love.
Today we see law and order proclaimed from TV to patrol cars. Hoping that
by keeping the law, order follows. Yet we see the opposite. For God’s love
also does one important thing the law cannot-it forgives. Forgiveness through
Jesus Christ, setting the example so we can forgive others. And ourselves,
often the hardest person to forgive. No laws of law or in love. Just Jesus.
And without him in your life, you don’t have love. He still loves you, you just
haven’t accepted it. Would you accept his love today? If you have fallen from
it, turn back? Then go show someone. A postcard once told me, “don’t brag
about what a great lover you are, show me.” If you have to tell me you are a
Christian, maybe you need to show it more. Go forgive someone. Show compassion
to one who is unlovable. Love your enemy as Jesus instructs. Find and forgive
the Judas in your life who betrayed you. The gospel is that simple, so we can
do it. Free so we can afford it. Barney’s advice came close, obey all rules.
Jesus made the rules simple-love. Let him show you how today. Start living
being forgiven. Trust God in obedience to his love, the love he showed us.
Love written on your heart, not on tablets of stone. No writing on the walls,
Jesus made it that personal. Obey all rules. Love Jesus, love your enemy,
enjoy life. Only in Christ will you know all the rules. Love. Let’s
ride.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com