Do you ever wonder why our local, state, and federal governments have to make so many laws? There seems to be no end to the steady flow of new legislation year after year. Lawmakers are in session for most of the year writing new bills and getting them passed into law. When this nation was founded, lawmakers and politicians spent most of their time tending to their own homes and personal businesses. Now serving in the legislature is a full time job.
Perhaps it is because our nation is out of control. It seems that people of depraved mind are constantly devising ways to skirt the law in order to do harm to others. New breeds of criminals have to be labeled and categorized, such as identity thieves and internet child predators. Corporations have to be held in check so that they do not produce hazardous products or defraud the public. Even public officials have to be regulated carefully to prevent corruption. Because of these, new laws have to be ratified to draw new boundaries and protect the population.
Such behavior is evidence of an immature society, and it is a shame that almost every facet of life in the United States has to be regulated. We are steadily proving ourselves to be incapable of handling the liberties that we have in a decent manner. The situation is very similar to a child who is given freedom to do something that he was not allowed to do previously. Because he is immature, he abuses the new freedom that he has been given, and it has to be taken from him. As this society shows itself to be too immature to manage its liberties, gradually they are being taken away by stricter and stricter regulations.
While Christians are subject to these laws of men, we should appreciate that the Lord does not intend to legislate every detail of our lives with His law. The Bible does not give a specific law describing every possible situation that we may encounter. Christ’s gospel simply gives us certain laws, principles, and examples by which we should live. The Old Law of Moses gave much more detailed and specific regulations, but God has freed us from this burden through the Christ’s law of grace and liberty (Acts 15:10-11). Now we have the freedom to do what is right and please God by our own choice.
Instead of being regulated in everything, the Lord expects us to have the maturity and spirituality to control ourselves. Paul wrote, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). Christians should have the maturity, the love of man, and the love of God to restrain them from abusing the freedom that we have acquired through Jesus Christ. We should always seek to please God rather than looking for loopholes and shortcuts to avoid accountability to God. We should ask, “What is right with it?” rather than, “What is wrong with it?” Again, Paul wrote, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be!” (Rom. 6:1-2). If God was forced to regulate and legislate every matter in our lives because we would always sin otherwise, then we could never be free. Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.” If we cannot be free without sinning, then sin is master over us, and we are slaves to Satan.
Therefore, let us be sober-minded and self-controlled. As a nation, we should pray for the time when all people will do the right things without having to be forced. As Christians, we should always do the right things simply because they are right in the sight of our Lord, whom we love and revere. Our freedom in Christ provides a test of our faith. If we can prove ourselves worthy of the liberty that God has given to us, then we can be free indeed and restrictive laws will not be necessary.
Stacey E. Durham