The Big Book of Do's & Don'ts by the Dozen

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Finally, all of you should be of one mind.  Sympathize with each other.  Love each other as brothers and sisters.  Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.  Don’t repay evil for evil.  Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you.  Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.  For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.  Turn away from evil and do good.  Search for peace, and work to maintain it.  The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers.  But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”  1 Peter 3:8-12

Many years ago I heard a story[1] about Mark Twain and his bride.  It seems the quite pious Mrs. Samuel Clemmens was horrified by her husband’s swearing.  His language (according to legend) was sufficient to turn the air blue.  It was said no flower would grow where he spat upon the ground.  One day the wife decided on a plan to end said profanity.  She wrote a list of every kind of vile language she could remember dropping from her husband’s lips.  Armed with all the darkest of invectives she marched into his study, where Mr. Clemmens was putting pen to paper, and promptly began to screech at the top of her lungs every foul word or phrase on the list.  When she was done, Sammuel looked up at her, took a long draw from his pipe, snorted out the smoke and replied:  My dear, that language doesn’t suit you; you have all the words, but you just can’t sing the music.

To be clear, I’m with Mrs. Clemmens on this one.  Foul language makes my soul cringe.  Considering 21^st-century culture vocabulary, remarkably-devoid of any softness, I muse wistfully on what a joy it would be to lose one’s sense of hearing.

But, more to the Apostle Peter’s point, Scripture’s (long) list of do’s and don’ts are rejected out-of-hand by contemporary culture, with as cavalier-quickness as one would squash a flea.  And those who do just that miss the mark by light years.  Virtually every time you see a list of the Seven Deadly Sins and the like, it’s less prohibitive than descriptive of an attitude which is destructive to human souls. 

To simplify – God is not shocked and horrified by your little lie, or cuss word, or extra helping of this or that.  Rather, it’s merely foolishness that diminishes who you could be, if you took the opposite, healthier approach to life:  truth-telling, kind language, and maintaing self control over appetites and carnal desires.

Unraveling my little metaphorical tale of the Twains, makes Mrs. Twain the inept crusader for good, attempting to make Mr. Twain cease his foolish and harsh language.  In the doing she is viewed by her husband as a twit who needs to be stifled.  And with his sarcasm, he shows she was right about his attitude.

And that is the whole issue about what God is doing with that big book of do’s and don’ts.

For You Today  

If you’re a reformer (diets, lists of do’s and don’ts, new promises to self and God every day), let me encourage you to breathe more.  Confession is good; persevering in virtuous deeds is good, and so is helping others see the light. 

But the main issue is still the main issue:  God wants your love and relationship more than anything you do (or don’t) for Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

No Counter-Punch  and  Stepping-Up Your Game

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Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] I have no source to cite, nor can I prove it’s true, simply a memory from years ago; but it serves a point.