I wonder if there's any virtue to keeping a commandment even if the reason the commandment was given no longer applies. Actually, as I was trying to find a way to phrase that question, I thought of the answer. Yes, there is still a point to keeping commandments that seem pointless, and there are a number of reasons for that.
First, there may be other purposes for the commandment than the ones that you know about. For example, we're supposed to give generously to the poor. I'd assume that's so God can bless the poor through us. But what if the poor don't accept the donation? What if we donate food to the poor, but they choose not to eat it, and it goes to waste. Well, that was pointless, wasn't it? Not entirely, because the donation required a sacrifice on our part, and sacrifices have a lot of benefits for the people who make the sacrifice, even if whatever is sacrificed goes to waste. Maybe God wants us to practice self-control, delayed gratification, and generosity, solely for our own benefit, if no one else's. I assumed the reason for blogging daily is to focus my mind on spiritual things first thing in the morning, but even on mornings when that doesn't happen, I should blog anyway. Maybe someone else will gain something from this blog post, even if I don't. Or maybe I'm just blogging to keep up the habit of blogging.
That leads me to another reason to keep "pointless" commandments: habit. If we commit ourselves to keep the commandments, even when the commandments in question don't seem to matter, it will help us to choose to keep the commandments that do matter. By teaching ourselves to be obedient, even in the small, seemingly unimportant things, we can develop the habit of being obedient also in the great and important things. And even the "pointless" things can contribute to spiritual inertia.
Any other reasons? One more would round off the list nicely, but I'm really short on time. Another reason to keep pointless commandments... Aha! I've got it. Devotion. See, even if the commandments don't make any sense to us, and don't seem to fulfill any purpose, God obviously wants us to keep them anyway, or He wouldn't have asked. Keeping "pointless" commandments is a way of showing God that even if such actions don't seem too important to us, we're willing to do them anyway because we know they're important to Him. We can keep God's commandments (pointless or not) simply because He asks us to. And, considering all He does for us, keeping a "pointless" commandment is really the least we can do.
Okay, this blog post is going a little late now, but I think I stumbled on something here...
Why do I blog every morning? Is it because I think I'll get something out of it? Yes, and no. Is it because I want other people to get something out of it? Well, sort of, but that's not why I started. I started simply because God asked me to. At first, it was because I thought He'd bless me if I did, and I'm sure He has, more than I realize. But if I know God wants me to blog, shouldn't I blog just because I know He wants me to? Shouldn't my desire to please Him and obey Him be enough of a reason to do it? And if I blog every morning for the purpose of pleasing God, I should definitely put more effort into it than I have been. Some days, I'm sure, I'm just going through the motions - blogging because I'm supposed to blog, so I can check it off the checklist. But I want my motivations to be more sincere than that. I want my motivations for blogging to be because God wants me to blog. I want to want to do it just because God wants me to do it. I want to have a desire to serve Him and make Him happy. I've been very selfish, really. I keep the commandments (when I actually succeed in keeping them) because I expect God to bless me for doing that. I want certain blessings, and I say to myself "If I want God to give me those blessings, I'd better keep some commandments so I can get on His good side." I want to be better than that.
Maybe I should write a list of reasons I should love God and want to serve Him, including everything He's already done for me, then make a conscious effort to keep His commandments as a way of saying "thanks for the blessings you've given me," rather than as a way of saying "please bless me more." Of course, my desires for doing this are also selfish. I'm doing it so I can get something I want, a change of character, and I can tell that deep down, I'm hoping that this will make me more pleasing to God, making Him more likely to give me the blessings I really want and think I need. Oh, well, I'm going to do it anyway. Even if my reasons for wanting to change my character aren't sincere now, maybe once I've changed my character, I'll have a more sincere reason for wanting my character to have changed. I may not be properly motivated now, and my reasons for wanting to change my motivation may not be properly motivated either, but maybe once I've changed my motivation, the motivation behind wanting to change my motivation may be finally in the right place.
I'm probably just confusing you. I'm sorry. Feel free to ignore most of this blog post, if you want. I figure this particular post is more for my own benefit than anyone else's anyway.
1 comment:
We should want to do and be good because we want to do and be good, but if it is wrong to want to do good in the hope of receiving blessings, why would God promise blessing if we obey? Many commandments have promised blessings attached. Why would God do that if it is wrong of us to do it for the blessings? It may be better to simply have a pure desire to be righteous and to please God, but somehow I think it's ok if part of the process for us is to want to be good because we want blessings and we can (and usually do) want blessings AND want to please God and become more righteous.
I also like your point that we do not always KNOW the point of the commandments. Often not until after we have proven our willingness to obey.
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