The Old and the New

The Old and New Testaments are the most important documents to the Christian. They tell us about God and what he has done for us and how we should live our lives. The Old Testament always needs to be studied, so that we might learn about the lineage of Christ and also the importance of being obedient to God. Israel had a real hard time with staying true to God and being blessed by Him.

We need to learn much from the Old Testament. We can really see how much better off we are today with a law of love instead of keeping a set of laws that were impossible for man to keep. These laws were written for man so that he could live better and healthier and safer by doing what God commanded. But we can see how man took some of these laws and bound things on others that caused nothing but problems. The law of the Sabbath was made for man’s good so that he would get the proper rest he needed. But the religious leaders added all kinds of things to it that made it a set of rules to judge others by, and not for man’s good. Jesus recognized this and called them to task for it.

When Jesus came into the world he literally turned everything around. He could see that men’s hearts were on keeping a bunch of rules to the point of losing priority on what was really important. He gave us many commands which were mostly on how we needed to care for each other. He ridiculed the religious leaders of his day for many of their practices concerning religion. He had compassion for mankind instead of judgment. He didn’t condone man’s weaknesses, but he did not condemn men for their mistakes.

We, like Jesus are not in the business of judging others, but instead we are to help and love others despite our differences. Romans, Chapter 14, has so much to say about judging others and getting along even when we have different views on religious ideas. When we see the stronger Christians giving in to the weaker on matters of preference in worship style we are on the right road to peace and unity. This is what God is pleased with when we do not have to have our own way in matters of opinion concerning our praise and worship to God. I hope we will always continue to study and learn from the Old Testament, but that we will follow the New Testament when it comes to seeing how we are to obey the principles shown by Jesus on how to treat one another and in doing so give praise to God.
—Jim Keevert