Daily Journal: 20 December

Terms and Conditions

Everybody has thoughts about the terms and conditions we’re bound by in life. We don’t always know them in detail and when we don’t, we tend to assume our own terms and conditions. Even driving in our local area these days demonstrates the way people assume their own terms and conditions on the road, despite the road rules.

The Jewish priests and teachers of the law who actively sought Jesus Christ’s crucifixion wanted to decide on which terms and conditions they would believe in Him. They made excuses for themselves and vilified Him, refusing to believe the fulfilment of their own scriptural prophecies. Instead, they said if He did what they wanted, once they had subjected Him to horrors most of us will never know, then they would believe.

Mark 15:31-32 (NCV)

The leading priests and the teachers of the law were also making fun of Jesus. They said to each other, “He saved other people, but he can’t save himself. If he is really the Christ, the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross. When we see this, we will believe in him.” The robbers who were being crucified beside Jesus also insulted him.

God doesn’t move His spiritual laws and revoke Himself so that we might believe. We believe because of who He is and we follow His spiritual laws because they are divinely set. He is clothed in righteousness and justice, love and mercy, which is why we trust in His nature of goodness.

In our weaknesses, we tend to want Him to move for us. But when we understand the nature of His sovereignty, we submit to His terms and conditions and follow His ways without demands, conjectures or assumptions. We have no rights before Him. He alone is God and does what He pleases because He alone is good and upright.

We can believe that following His terms and conditions benefits us for the good, trusting that He not only wants what is best for us, but will do it.

Psalm 121:1-3, 7-8 (NCV)

I look up to the hills, but where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let you be defeated. He who guards you never sleeps…. The Lord will protect you from all dangers; he will guard your life. The Lord will guard you as you come and go, both now and forever.