10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
I am amazed when I hear of people, of Jesus-followers who what to pick up Jewish practices and make them obligatory for modern day non-Jewish believers. We live in a day when the laws of God are written on our hearts and our minds can be filled with a knowledge of God’s will. Why would we want to go backward to a time of smoke and fire, a time when knowing God’s will was fuzzy at best? Three verses later in this passage the old way of coming to God is called obsolete. It served its purpose well, but no longer functions as it once did. Something new has taken its place. We all have closets, sheds, garages, basements, storage units, attics filled with things that have become obsolete. Those old car seats, for instance, worked well in their day, but newer, safer ones have been made. No one wants the old ones because they are not deemed safe. They have been replaced with something that works better. And yet we hang on to them! Some people change denominations when they become Jesus-followers. They went to church, but it meant nothing to them. It was just something people do. Now that they have come alive in Jesus, they attend a different church, one where they sense life reigning. Sometimes some of the old habits and mindset of the old church can get mixed up in the practice at the new church. Because the outward expressions of worship are different, something might not seem right. It is like putting on a new pair of slippers after wearing the old ones for years. The old ones felt familiar, even though they had holes and were all ratty inside. So, the new ones with their fresh, plush interiors, feel strange and unfamiliar. You might be tempted to return to the old ones, because they are so familiar, but you would lose all the benefits of the new ones. This life in Jesus is different. The rulebook gets written internally. We are dealt with individually. We each have a custom plan for cleaning up our lives designed by our “Life Coach” Jesus. If we stay on the plan, we all will become more and more like Him, holy and pleasing to God. But remember, everybody’s plan is customized. There might be some people whose plan works on the character quirk later than the Lord worked on your character quirk. You pay attention to your plan and stay on track. Let the Holy Spirit take care of the other person.
The Arnold Journey 