July 19, 2023

Exodus 32: 15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. (NIV)

It may be true that law can’t change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless.*

I have driven through communities where many homeowners displayed the ten commandments on little yard signs. There must have been some local campaign to allow the Law to be posted in schools and government facilities. It might change the world if God’s commandments were publicly posted everywhere – but it might not.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he carried the two tablets of the Testimony, directly from God’s hands to his own, to be delivered to people who he expected would receive them with joy. Instead, he found that they were “running wild” (verse 25) – because God’s law was not imbedded in their hearts. And Moses’ showing up with the rules inscribed in stone was not enough to turn their hearts back to the God who had delivered them out of Egypt.

Yard signs, T-shirts, tablets of stone – these are not bad things; but from the beginning of time, God has wanted his people to carry his law in our hearts.* When we do, that’s when we start to change the world!

When Christians believe God placed them in their community to transform it for his glory and respond by committing themselves to prayer, holy living, and sacrificial service, there is no limit to the amount of change God can bring about.*