The Law Is for the Careless

This morning I watched a pickup truck barrel through my neighborhood over fifty miles per hour. The speed limit is twenty-five. There were children making their way to their school bus stops in the dark but this careless fellow paid them no regard. I noted the time and resolved to call the police who could post an officer on my street. Speeds in excess of ten miles per hour are considered "reckless" in this area. I hope the resultant payment for his trangression will slow him down.

I have found that people do not slow down for school zones even though they can clearly see the speed blinking at them overhead. That is, they do not slow down unless they see a policeman ahead. Then, they are model drivers. Many people do not stop on red lights but run through them, do not stop before proceeding right on red and do not use their direction signals unless they see someone who can hold them accountable. These people know that there aren't enough police to hold them accountable most of the time so they become extremely careless in their driving.

I know why car insurance is so high. There are so many who will not comply with the law. They text while driving, turn right from left lanes (and vice-versa) and sneak down one-way streets while looking at the signs which say "wrong way." They are physically impared by alcohol or drugs, drive way past being merely sleepy and fully respond to the cries of their children without pulling over.

So, the law tries to prevent these unsafe and careless practices in driving. Yet, the law can't seem to keep up with the ways people can be careless.

And so it is with God's law too. The law is made to make the careless aware of their transgressions. Their sin ( our sin; my sin) is a failure to give God glory. It is simple but needs explanation because people are creating new ways of carelessly commiting this sin. Thus, we have the explanation of this standard of giving God glory throughout the Bible.

Think what the traffic law would be if there were no careless people: Drive in a safe and courteous manner. Sure there would have to be definition so that there could be order, such as: drive on the right side of the road and: the person on your right will have the right of way when arriving at a four way stop simultaneously. Speed limits would not be necessary because no one would drive recklessly. People wouldn't pass the signs which said, "this a lane was closed ahead" so that they could push their way in much further down the line. People would let others in when they were merging on the freeways.

So, more and more traffic laws are coming. They will be written because people choose to rebell against society's laws as much as they do against God's law.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 (ESV) ⁸ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, ⁹ understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, ¹¹ in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.