Spirit of The Law

June 6, 2022

It’s the middle of the day and I have zero energy. Just got back in (went to drop off food for RaeRae) and I’m wondering about something: the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law.

What is this thought on my mind? There is a Y intersection that I pass almost every day. The road that comes to the major road has “Stop” printed on the ground so vehicles are supposed to stop before they come out. For years there’s always a jam session at the junction because people parking in their cars and big trucks there, effectively making it into one lane. Recently, the Works Department painted a rectangular box on the side of the road with the words, “No Parking” in it. The book starts about 12 ft after the stop line. Someone literally parked their vehicle in the space between the stop line and the no parking box. I’m watching this in amazement. The point is to reduce the congestion caused by folks parked there. But because this one spot didn’t have “no parking,” they squeezed the car in. And technically they are right, according to the letter of the law in this case, the literal letter of the law. 

But what about the spirit of the law? Which is – keep the intersection clear? Clearly not important. But this is also how I feel sometimes with our church (yes that includes me), we are so consumed with the letter of the law that we forget or ignore the spirit of the law.

Some years ago, we were out with some of the youths. The practice had gone later than it should have and one of them indicated that they were hungry. I said, let’s get something for her to eat. The other youth leader started arguing, we’re not supposed to buy food on the Sabbath. Technically speaking I agreed, but I also told her, we’ll get food for her because she’s hungry and at the end of the day, we are responsible for her. In the supermarket, not even five minutes afterward, we had to call an ambulance. The manager of the supermarket was terrified that it was something that had happened because of the supermarket. But the young lady had a seizure because she didn’t get to eat. Honestly there are times I wonder if I had moved faster if she would have been hospitalised (granted I know it’s not like the supermarket or any restaurant, bodega or something was closer). But I hold on to that memory because it helps me to remember that not everything is as black and white as we often want to make it. 

2 Corinthians 3:6 – He has also qualified us to be ministers of a new promise, a spiritual promise, not a written one. Clearly, what was written brings death, but the Spirit brings life.

Yahweh’s word is sovereign. Without a doubt. But sometimes we miss what he has for us personally when we hold so tightly to a scripture, that we miss his voice whispering to us, telling us to go right when he told everyone else to go left. And that’s the scary part. I don’t want to do that. Yahweh, help me to listen to you and not be afraid to adjust based on your personal directives to me. 

Annddd…

That moment when you finally put your feet up, only to hear someone calling at the front door. The neighbour wants to cut his yard and the stones does pitch so can I move my vehicle? I got up. Well, I’ve seen enough broken vehicle windows from brush cutting. 

And can someone please explain to me how my father has an Instagram account? And I only know finding out about this?! What world am I living in?