Not too long ago, I was driving down the highway watching people speeding past me at break-neck speeds, who were obviously breaking the law; and I started thinking about how easy it is to break the law while driving. For example, when you study to obtain your driver’s license, you pick up a small slim booklet containing only the basic highway rules. However, there’s probably a thousand-page manual floating around somewhere at the Department of Motor Vehicles, containing so many laws that it would make your head spin!
The website DMV.ORG lists some bizarre driving laws. In Alaska, authorities have found it necessary to declare it illegal to tether a dog to the roof of a car. In Massachusetts, it’s illegal to operate a car with a gorilla in the backseat. In Derby, Kansas, it’s considered a misdemeanor to screech your tires while driving, costing you thirty days in jail. In Minnetonka, Minnesota, it’s illegal to drive a truck that leaves mud, dirt or any sticky substance on the road. In University City, Missouri, it’s illegal to honk the horn of someone else’s car. In Oklahoma, you’ll be given a ticket if caught reading a comic book while driving; and last but not least, in Lexington, Kentucky, if you stop for ice cream while driving, it’s illegal to carry an ice cream cone in one’s pocket.
It’s so easy to break the law, because most aren’t found written in any manual you pick up for taking your driver’s test. This reminds me of the Old Testament law. On Mount Sinai, Moses received the Decalogue, known as the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1-17). However, there were actually six hundred thirteen other laws that people were supposed to uphold in addition to the Ten Commandments. James said, “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas 2:10); and it wouldn’t have taken very much for someone to stumble, with so many additional rules and regulations.
I found myself frustrated in thinking about how easy it is to break the law; but then a passage a Scripture came to mind. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus basically said, “You won’t have to worry about breaking any laws if you keep God and your neighbor in mind, and be certain to put them first.”
James may have stated, “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas 2:10); however, he concluded, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well” (2:8). The apostle Paul said, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom 13:8). In his book entitled The Greatest Thing in the World, author Henry Drummond tells us that “Christ came and said, ‘I show you a more simple way. If you do one thing . . . if you love, you will unconsciously fulfill the whole law’.”
As believers in Christ, we don’t have to walk around in fear of transgressing the law, so long as we remember to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and remember to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lk 10:27). As Henry Drummond stated, if we love then we’ll unconsciously fulfill the entire law. We will be law abiding citizens without ever giving it a second thought! Therefore, as Paul admonished, let’s “put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Col 3:14).