August 26, 2007
Rev. Peter Luckey discusses an example from the Bible illustrating that it is not rigid adherence to rules that leads one to the freedom God intends for his people. The sabbath, for example, was meant for liberation-one day of the week that we are free from the oppression of our daily toil. In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus shows that, what was intended for liberation had become another means for controlling others-the very thing the commandment intends had been squelched by slavish devotion to it. Many situations in life are similar. As Rev. Luckey points out, we often prefer the chains we know than the freedom we don't know. But discerning the difference between slavish devotion to rules and, instead, devotion to God's teaching is straight forward-it is only by the power of love that we are set free.