Why the Speed Limits?

The reason people drive fast is not to get to their destinations quicker. That is a rationalization, an excuse. If you need to drive 300 miles, and the speed limit is 60 mph, that would mean five hours driving. If you drove 65 mph, you would arrive 25 minutes sooner. If you are only going thirty miles, you would arrive 2.3 minutes sooner. The time saved is negligible. People drive 65 mph only because they love to break the law. They do not (usually) drive 85 because they are afraid they will get pulled over. At 65, you can break the law without fear of getting a ticket.

It is the nature of human beings to rebel. If Johnny's father tells him not to touch Suzie’s doll, what does that mean to Johnny? It means "Touch it!” It never occurred to Johnny to touch the doll until his father told him not to. One of the first words a baby learns to say is, “No!” He is willful and rebellious. He was born that way. This may surprise you.

This is the same reason people break the Ten Commandments (and they do - all of the people, all of the commands). That is the reason God gave them. “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace increase all the more” (Rom. 5:20). God planned to save people by forgiveness, not by obedience. If it was by obedience, none of us would make it.

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Ripe for Harvest: Prepared to Give an Answer

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Roots by the River

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