Our Collie and the Fence When I was young we had several dogs that got killed on the road in front of the house, so my dad decided that if we were going to have a dog we needed a fence to protect it. The fence was a chain-link fence that went all the way around our house, and our first dog to go in the fence was a collie we named “Prince”. He loved to play and run around the house but always , within the fence. We could not allow this special dog to get out and possibly get killed as the other dogs. The Collie learned that he could enjoy his life with us though it was confined to the space within the fence line. Years of fun and laughter were spent with our special Collie within the fence. After a few years my dad decided to expand the back part of the yard to give the dog a little more room to run, but still enclosed with borders. This was more room than Prince had ever had, and he would go up to the old fence line but no further. Even though the actual fence was stretched out further, he felt safe at the old fence line. It took us some time to get him to realize it was now all right to go into new areas of freedom. Eventually, he learned that his freedom was extended and he learned to enjoy the new boundaries of his safety and freedom. God’s law is like a protective fence. The old law of Moses had boundaries for Israel for a good purpose. Some of the purposes was to train the conscience about sin and some of the purpose was to foreshadow things that were to come in Christ. When Christ came and died on the cross for sin, He also abolished the old fence-line and extended new freedoms to His people. Old dietary laws, Sabbaths, and New Moons and festivals that characterized the old law system would find a spiritual fulfillment in Jesus and His kingdom (Col.2:13-17). The fence of safety and freedom has been extended, allowing us more freedom to move around, but also with limitations for our own safety. Some of the early Christians who had been under the old fence system had a difficult time understanding and adjusting to the new fence line. This caused some trouble with adjustments, and some refused to adjust and demanded that the fence be put back where it was. The liberties in Christ could not go back to the old line. This is basically what the book of Galatians is about. There is new liberty in Christ. There are still boundaries, but the old things have now been replaced with something new and better. Do not go back to the bondage of the old Law. But, listen to the Spirit as He was revealing and confirming the New Testament of Jesus. There is no freedom to sin in Christ, but there are freedoms beyond what the Old Law allowed. We need to know the liberties and the limitations of safety. Terry W. Benton
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 03:46:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015