For Our Own Good!

Since this is my first posting I want to share my reason for starting this project. I intend to use this sight as a place to record my daily insights from my personal quiet time. This will also allow me to share the same with others. It is my hope that my own pursuit and its record will encourage others to join in, adding their own insights or questions. The ultimate goal, as implied by the name of this blog, is that we might inspire one another to have a new connection with God and others or to renew relationships that have grown cold.

This morning I looked for my quiet time to a these words from Deuteronomy 10:12-13:

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe all the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. NIV

My grandfather, the Rev. Richard P. Hocker, was an independent preacher and itenerant evangelist. He could also be described as a Holiness preacher. Let me explain how he defined holiness for himself. Grandpa Hocker would not wear short-sleeved shirt. It was too revealing. He would not wear a necktie because it was an unnecessary "worldly adornment." He wouldn't drink root beer because it said "beer" on the bottle, and he wouldn't drink coffee because it was "strong drink." He wouldn't even chew gum, because someone might think he was using tobacco. Why am I sharing this about Grandpa? He had an attitude that is so different from the prevailing attitude of today's culture. He believed, "if it's questionable, it's dirty." The prevailing attitude today is to see what we can get away with. We seem to think, "How bad can I be and still be accepted by God?"

Wow! We certainly have misunderstood God's plan. Looking again at this text, we learn what God asks of us. He wants us to observe ALL his commands, and He wants us to understand that they are for "our own good!" This morning as I prayed, I asked God to help me to want to obey him more instead of looking for loopholes and trying to get away with all I can! Maybe you will join me in this kind of prayer, and together we will begin a new and more vital connection with God.