By Kirk Gliebe

Some of the best memories I have of our outreach work with children have been during game time. Where else can you exercise all five senses simultaneously! Hearing the noise of 20 kids yelling, smelling the body odor of elementary kids who are still working on regular hygiene, feeling the pain of getting kicked in the shin by a 5 year old, tasting the embarrassment of defeat in dodge ball by a 3rd grade girl, and finally seeing the disorder of two dozen kids trying to play a game without listening or obeying the rules. It's this last sense that serves as a very good illustration for this week's Parashah Mishpatim. Just as the kids need to follow the rules in order to effectively play the games, so we need to recognize that we must follow G-d's commandments, his rules, in order to have order and blessing in our lives!

Our Torah portion (Exodus 21:1-24:18; 30:11-16)  follows last week's giving of the Ten Commandments and the amazing pyrotechnics surrounding G-d's physical revelation at Mount Sinai. Why is such an awesome scene of spiritual significance presented only to be followed with a series of terrestrial "does and don'ts". A comment in the Artscroll Tanach provides a beautiful answer: "Religion is not limited to ritual and spirituality. To the contrary, all areas of life are intertwined..." To compartmentalize our lives into spiritual and secular sectors that don't mix misses a key application of our text. Whether in our business dealings or personal employment, and whether in our relationships with others or our neighborly consideration of other's possessions, or whether in our keeping of Shabbat or our tithing, we are commanded to look to G-d's instructions to lead and guide our actions. Experiencing G-d's blessing and order in our lives comes as a result of holistically applying his commandments. The portion ends with the verbal acceptance of G-d's instructions by the Israelis at the bottom of Mount Sinai followed by a second amazing encounter with G-d when Moses, Aaron, Nadav, Avihu and the Seventy Elders of Israel actually "see" G-d on the mount itself in a time of unprecedented heavenly fellowship. Living out G-d's commandments must be something we pursue not just in times and places of religious decorum, but in the everyday mundane actions of our lives.

The Haftarah portion (Jeremiah 34:8-22; 33:25, 26) recounts the hypocrisy of our people when bad times turned to good. With the threat of the Babylonian army on the doorstep of Jerusalem, the leaders as well as the common people made a promise before G-d to release their Jewish slaves in obedience to the Torah. Then in a reversal the same people took back their former slaves when the Babylonian threat suddenly was temporarily removed! G-d, speaking through Jeremiah, castigates the people for their hypocritical action. Applying G-d's instructions out of improper motivation seldom leads to genuine heartfelt obedience, just as the hasty promise of a changed life in a prayer for G-d's emergency intervention seldom gets kept. G-d demands that we follow his commandments because we recognize they are good and right, not because we want to use them as a means to manipulate G-d to get us to the end where we want to go.

In the Brit Chadasha portion (Romans 7:7-12)we are told that G-d's perfect Torah ultimately serves to show us our sinfulness, thus reminding us of our need for the atonement provided for us through the bloody sacrificial death of our Messiah Yeshua. Through acceptance of his death for our sins we receive God's complete forgiveness. This forgiveness though is not a pass for lawless living; even as followers of Messiah Yeshua we must recognize our obligation to faithfully and willingly follow G-d's commandments as our guide for a successful spiritual life.

How are G-d's rules dictating the way you are playing your game of life? Are you allowing G-d's commandments to affect every decision you make, impacting the different segments of your life? Do you find yourself using G-d in some way, making deals with him with the hope that you can get him to do what you want? Do you confuse G-d's grace for permission for "lawless" living? I encourage us to consider this simple challenge: Honor G-d by humbly following his rules. Why? This will grow your trust in Him! Why? You will learn discipline and this will help you to live out a holy life. Why? So you will be ready to be useful for G-d for whatever it is that he may desire for you to do -- even supervising game time!