Saturday, September 27, 2008

Psalm 19:8

The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes." Psalm 19:8 NIV

Precepts: the laws, the ways the instructions. They give joy. Commands: the instruction, the direction, the motivation. They give light. Joy & Light are attractive ~ they are desirable attainments. Precepts & Commands are difficult ~ they require subservient action. You can't have one without the other, though. If you want joy then you need to do what you know needs to be done. If you want to be a light to those around you there needs to be a different set of actions at work in your life. You need to follow God's Word and His commands more than you do the crowd. (This includes the command, "love others as you love yourself.") The two, Joy & Light, go hand in hand. Have you ever seen a joyful person who wasn't also a light to those around? Or a person who just seemed to shine who didn't have joy? However, the hands don't work without the muscles in them...the tendons and the mind to tell them what to do. These are the Precepts & Commands. Without knowing and doing what is right in God's eyes there will never be Joy & Light. You can act happy and be nice to people, but without fully immersing Yourself in Him...body, mind and spirit...you will never know complete Joy & Light.