Toward Recovery

It’s not too late to repent of our neglect of God’s Law and begin taking up a new course. Let me suggest four steps pastors can take to begin giving a more appropriate place to the Law of God in their lives and ministries.

First, we need to repent of our neglect of the Law of God. And not just to God. I always counsel keeping expressions of repentance within the circle of the offended. Pastors who have failed to teach and preach the Law have sinned against their congregations, and, thus, a public confession and plea for forgiveness is in order.

Second, begin pleading with God to give you a heart to love and delight in His Law (Psalms 40:8; 119:97). We won’t go any further with the Law of God than our love for it will allow. The more we love the Law, and find great delight and hope in it, the more it will inform our lives and ministries. Only God can shape our hearts to do that (Psalm 119:32).

Third, take up a daily regimen of reading and meditating in God’s Law. This is just what the psalmist insists the righteous children of the Lord will do (Psalm 1:2). The kings of Israel were expected to meditate daily in God’s Law (Deuteronomy 17:18,19). We who are God’s royal priesthood today must do nothing less (1 Peter 2:9,10).

Finally, begin laying a plan of action for incorporating the Law of God into your ministry. Make it a memory project for your Sunday school classes. Teach a series on the commandments. Help your elders understand how to use the Law of God in deciding critical issues that come before the church (cf. Ruth 4). Create a study group to investigate ways your church can be more outspoken in helping to bring the benefits of God’s Law to your community. Much can be done, and there certainly is much to do if the Law of God is to recover a more appropriate place in the ministries of our churches.

God is still working with the lost children of the Church. We may have neglected His Law, precipitating this crisis; however, He is faithful to His covenant Word, and will not allow His true children to wander very far, or very long, away from Him. Pray that, as God works in us to ground us more fully in His Law, He might also work to woo His wandering children back to Himself.

For Reflection

Does the Law of God feature in your walk with the Lord? In what ways? How might you increase the positive benefit God’s Law can bring to your life?

T. M. Moore is dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of 20 books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are Culture Matters (Brazos) and The Hidden Life, a handbook of poems, songs, and spiritual exercises (Waxed Tablet). Sign up at his website to receive his daily email devotional Crosfigell, reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. T. M. and his wife and editor, Susie, make their home in Hamilton, Va.

This article originally appeared on BreakPoint. Used with permission.

Original Crosswalk publication date: October 29, 2008