When I was in college we had to follow Kate Turabian's format when submitting papers. Everything had to follow form. Back in those days we didn't have computers that would automatically footnote, justify margins, enumerate pages. It all had to be done manually, which took a little bit of work. Not only did you have to know how many lines it took for the footnote, you had to have everything figured out on the page because you had to have the proper amount of lines on each page.
Since it was impossible to memorize everything in Turabian's manual, you had to keep that book handy. Every rule on how a paper should be typed and submitted was in there. And most of the professors held you to it. You could lose grade points simply for wrong forms. I loved Kate Turabian and I loathed Kate Turabian. I loved it because it held all the answers to writing a correct paper. I loathed it because everything had to follow that format precisely. After struggling through my freshmen year, I either paid someone to type my long papers for me or I talked my girlfriend into it.
Following God's forms for living is tough. God gave ten basic commandments to follow, then the teachers of the law added about 600 more to it. By Jesus day you needed an expert in the law just to interpret what you could and couldn't do. It was a terrific burden on the average person. And let's not forget the consequences of violating the law. Some of the punishment was death.
Jesus summed up all the law into two simple commands; love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. It's tough enough just to do that. From the time Moses introduced God's ten commands to this day, no one has been able to keep them. Nor will anyone ever be able to keep them. The only way that I'm going to be able to keep from getting my grade reduced, which is pass fail, is pay someone else to do it for me.
That's exactly what God did for me at calvary. Jesus lived His life perfectly for me then He paid the penalty for my screw ups on the cross. The weird thing is that I never had to pay for them. I didn't have to beg God to do me a personal favor. He did it on His own. Grace. And on top of that He enables me through His Spirit that He placed inside me to live out my life as He intended.
There is no way that I could ever memorize God's Word in its entirety. But I don't have to. That's what the Holy Spirit is for. He helps me know and act properly, as long as I'm listening to Him. Solomon talks about totally investing yourself in God's teaching so that you won't be lead astray. The more I focus on God's Word and His teachings for my life, the easier it is for the Holy Spirit to guide me. It takes an intentional, daily focus on God's truths to permeate your heart, soul and mind and to make following those truths second nature.
God, I confess that with all the stuff that I've got to get done in a day I sometimes lose track of you in my thoughts. I'm not really trying to ignore you as much as I'm just distracted by the routine and pressures of life. Help me zero in on you throughout my day. Help me to pause and bring my thoughts back to You.
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