PrintWhen The Law Is A Nuisance!
Speed limits on the roads are such a nuisance, aren't they? On a recent road trip it was obvious to me that for many of the drivers those signs represented a restriction that was not about to be tolerated by them. It seemed to me that most drivers did what was right in their own eyes with almost total disregard for the speed signs. I mean, what were the authorities thinking about when they put up those signs? Why should they tell us that we can travel at no more than 60 kph when it's obvious that we could easily do 80 kph on that same stretch of road? And if we could do 80kph, why not 90kph?
The law can be such a pain at times. Maybe that's why the majority of drivers seem to ignore it and make up their own rules as to how fast they want to drive; except, of course, when they are in the proximity of a speed camera and they are in danger of being caught speeding!
Of course, to protect our right to be a law unto ourselves, it's necessary to ignore or rationalise the fact that speed is a major contributor to injury and death on the road. It would not help our right to self-determination if we recognised the fact that the laws concerning speed are there not to restrict us but to protect us and all who use the roads.
In the same way we might argue that God's laws are such a nuisance, aren't they? Well, maybe not all of them (like murder, for example). But to expect us to be truthful and act with integrity in all of life's situations is so inconvenient much of the time. And what's wrong with a little bit of covetousness? Surely that can't hurt anyone?
Maybe it would be so much more convenient for us if we treated the Ten Commandments, for example, like the "Ten Options" or the "Ten Suggestions"; a smorgasbord from which we could pick and choose what we would and would not obey. But then again, on life's road, it seems that is what most people do anyway. Then we wring our hands in anguish and complain about the "relational injury & death" that flows from our determination to be a law unto ourselves.
Living in the fast lane usually means breaking the law – the law that has been put in place not to restrict our freedom but to protect us from the self-centred misuse of that freedom. How fast are you going now?
