Devotion Wednesday, October 2

At last night's LCM Bible Study, we turned to the middle chapters of Deuteronomy and browsed all the "laws" which were commanded through Moses.  Some were pretty funny; others were appealing.  

One of the females pointed to the law about taking a "willful son" to the gate of the city and asking the Elders to assist in stoning him to death. 

The instruction to take a female captured in battle to your home, shave her head, then wait 30 days before making her part of your household met the response, "I hadn't realized this was a possibility!"

There are a lot of interesting, seldom repeated commands in those chapters of the Bible.  But what of the commands in the books of the Bible which we read more often?  What do we make of the instructions Jesus gives?  

This morning I read Matthew 5:38-48.  Here is where Jesus tells his listeners "Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you."

If you hang out in the LCM Lounge, you have no doubt met Arnold.  Arnold lives in a tent, somewhere toward Sandy Springs.  He rides his bike or the CAT bus.  He cooks with kerosene, which is why his skin is so covered with soot.  He never asks for much, but he is usually asking for something.  $3 for kerosene; $2 for a new can opener.

Have I come to read Matthew 5 much the same as I read Deuteronomy 23:1?  As some sort of a law that applied in ancient time, but not in the modern world?

God forbid!