Just feeling a bit paranoid by Gary Rose

A couple of weeks ago, I had my monthly Chiropractic treatment in Wesley Chapel and then began the trip home. After a few minutes a police car began following me. And he kept following me. Whenever I turned, he turned – it made me nervous. I am a good driver (everybody thinks they are) but why was that cop following me? Did I do something wrong? Was there some sort of outstanding warrant that I wasn’t aware of? Why did he just keep following and following and following. Finally, though, he turned onto another street. Frankly, I felt just like the small dog in the picture – paranoid.

Fast forward to this morning, its 1:30 in the A.M. I can’t sleep. Then I remember the episode with the patrol car and I thought about the picture of the dog with another (and much bigger) dog following him. Then it hit me – that is just how a faithful Jew must have felt under the law. Did the Jew often think that God was watching him, just waiting for him to do something against HIS law? Had he forgotten just one of the smallest commandments and committed a sin? And then I remembered the following passage from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians…

Galatians 3 ( World English Bible )

 ⁶ Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”  ⁷ Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham.  ⁸ The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”  ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.  ¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

Truth: nobody’s perfect; everyone makes mistakes. God’s Law under the Old Testament was perfect, but since we are not – we have a problem. The Good News is, God has given us grace through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Those who do their best to do God’s will can be forgiven because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

So, the next time I notice a police car behind me, I will try to remember this passage and not be paranoid. Besides, my truck is bigger than a puny police cruiser, anyway! How nice it is to be the BIG DOG on the block. On second thought… forget everything I just said and just do your best to stay out of trouble.