Loving what the World Considers Worthless

“It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.” (Ps 119:126-128 AV)

What is interesting here is the rejection of the law by the wicked and the love of the law from the righteous go hand in hand.  There is a deeply profound principle here.  There is a contrast between loves.  One loves sin while the other loves righteousness.  One rejects moral law while the other embraces it.  The real truth which the Spirit wishes to stress this morning is that truth of polar growth.  As one position grows, the opposite also grows.  Let me explain.

When young people begin to grow into adulthood, they begin to resent the rules of conduct expected of them by adults.  They are embarrassed by peer pressure to reject what their parents and teachers have taught them.  They begin to reject what they know to be right because of what it requires of them to continue to follow.  Then a funny thing happens along the way.  They get married.  They have children of their own.  And low and behold, all of a sudden it dawns on them their parents were right all along.  Then they have a choice to make.  Do they continue down the road of rejection, or do they embrace to law of God and raise their families according to the word of God?  What precipitates this change?  What motive is there to change one’s course and embrace what one once resented?

It’s a funny thing.  We can look at the wickedness of the world an react in one of two ways.  But there is no neutral position.  We can either look at it and be enticed by it, preferring the wickedness of the world.  Or, we can examine it in light of the purity and blessings of obedience the world and reject it.  If we reject the darkness, the light becomes all that more appealing.  If we turn our back on the filthiness, then cleanliness become all the more precious.  If the word of God is not precious to us, the it is probably because the rejection of God’s word by the wicked doesn’t bother us all that much.  The two go hand in hand.