Sunday, January 14, 2007

Jewish Alligators

I randomly came to Savannah this morning and got a hotel for the night on Hilton Head Island. After letting myself in the hotel room I decided to have a little stroll on the beach in the moonlight. In front of the hotel is a large pond with beautiful trails all over the place. As I was walking on the path towards the beach I noticed signs on the waters edge (only 5ft from the path). They said in large red letters:

WARNING!

DO NOT FEED OR APPROACH THE ALLIGATORS



I freaked. Wouldn't you? There was no way of telling how many alligators there were or how hungry they might be on a lonesome Sunday night. Thus, I'm back in the hotel instead of braving the wild.



I thought about these stupid signs. If the signs weren't there, I would never have freaked because it would not have occurred to me that alligators could be just a few feet from me. It reminded me about a huge reality about God.



Why did God give the law and commandments? It was not to save us. It was simply to educate us on just how messed up we are and then point us to Jesus. If God never gave His laws then I wouldn't have realized that I needed a savior. However, just like those alligator warning signs, the law of God shouts out to you and me:

Warning! You're a sinner! You're not perfect!

The Bible says that the law was given as a 'schoolmaster' to lead us to Jesus.



Christianity is not comprised of a list of Do's and Don'ts. It's simply folks that realize, by reading the 'alligator signs', that they aren't perfect and need an alternate route to God. Be thankful for the impossible law that God gave because it will lead you to Jesus and a simple love relationship with Him. Once there, you can just chill in the truth that the impossible commandments have been fulfilled perfectly and credited as if you did it yourself. It's a sweet deal.