Trying to be Good

Living by good laws is like living in an internal prison--sentenced for life. When you are sentenced for life without chance for a parole, your sentence cannot be revoked. You can't even be released for good behavior. All your good behavior can't make up to pay for your sentence.


A prisoner simply has to keep the regiment and rules of the prison. He just has to obey. In desperation on occasion, he breaks the law. But keeping the law or breaking the law is not going to help his sentence or hurt his sentence any. It will hurt the quality of his life inside the prison. But the ultimate question of release is not on the table. You are sentenced to life.

In the same way, all your good behavior is not going to make up for the life sentence. The only way you can get out of the sentence is if someone meets the sentence for you.

Wrong Motivation

KEEPLAWS are as bad as SCOFFLAWS because both views are externally oriented. KEEPLAWS are convinced that they can keep the external laws. They work through their list. They go to enormous lengths to prove their ability.

--They go to their temple, church, or mosque regularly


--They say their prayers at home and in public
--They give to charity. They never turn away the poor
--They tolerate those who do evil against them

All these laws are external and are put into practice externally. Those of us who watch these near-perfect creatures are simply aghast at what they are able to do. But their inner motivation is not evident.

Inner motivation of Keeplaws could be pride based or manipulative.

Keeping external laws are checkmated and canceled by your internal position as one inclined to do evil, as one who has done wrong, as one facing a death sentence. You see laws not only relate to external actions, but to internal motivations.

Keeplaws

KEEPLAWS are just as bad as SCOFFLAWS because they are not mindful of the same standard in different ways. At least scofflaws recognize that they are breaking the standard of perfection and keep on breaking laws.

The one who thinks he keeps the law is really using the wrong standard by which he measures himself. He uses the standard of his neighbor rather than the law itself. If I only break the speed limit 50% of the time, I am better than the person who breaks the speed limit 90% of the time.



But the law does not want me to break the law ever! Only the perfect are worthy. And I am a law breaker when measured against perfection? Who made your neighbor your standard?

KEEPLAWS are as bad as SCOFFLAWS because of their focus--themselves as the source and sustainer. Instead, when it comes to God's salvation, the focus must be on God to make salvation happen.

Scofflaws

The best way to become worthy before God is to follow His laws -- or so we think.
Now this is much better than people who don't care at all for God's laws or any one else's laws. They are called SCOFFLAWS.

Recently, the police caught up with such a man in New York City--he had several hundred parking tickets and traffic citations that he had not paid. They stopped him for using a card-board license plate.


He said the car belonged to a friend and that he had borrowed it. Asked for his name, he gave them his real name. Took him to the police station and they printed out all his faults and it took almost two hours of printing!

SCOFFLAWS break the law many times--they scoff at the law--that's why they are called scoff laws. They believe they are in authority. They have pushed the self-destruct button.

They’ve said a farewell to God and God simply lets them be, to be themselves.