
Intro Question: Was the Law of Moses just about rules, or was it intended to lead us to something deeper — true righteousness?
Key Passage: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
Devotional:
Was the Law of Moses just about rules, or was it meant to lead us to something deeper — true righteousness?
That’s a question that hits close to home, especially when we feel like our faith boils down to a list of rules we can never fully follow. For a lot of us, following God has become this exhausting routine of trying not to mess up.
But here’s the thing: If we make the Law the focus, without understanding the heart behind it, we’re missing the key ingredient.
The Law: A Recipe Without the Key Ingredient
Think of it like this: Imagine you’re baking cookies. You’ve got your flour, your sugar, your butter — all the main ingredients — and you mix them together, pop them in the oven, and wait for the magic to happen.
But here’s the catch: You forget to add the eggs.
What happens? Without eggs, the dough doesn’t bind together. You pull them out of the oven, and instead of warm, gooey cookies, you’ve got a crumbly mess. They just fall apart.
But then, let’s say you realize your mistake and try to “fix” it. So, you crack an egg on top of the cookies — after they’ve already come out of the oven.
It’s gross, right?
The egg just sits there, slimy, uncooked, completely out of place. It doesn’t work, because you can’t add eggs at the end of the process. It’s too late.
This is what it’s like when we try to live out the Law without relationship with God at the center.
When we treat the Law as the first and foremost thing — like it’s the main ingredient — we end up with something that doesn’t work. It crumbles under the weight of our failures. We can follow the rules all day long, but without that relationship with God, it all falls apart. And trying to add that relationship at the end, after we’ve already focused on the rules? It’s like cracking an egg on top of cookies after they’ve been baked. It’s messy, it’s ineffective, and it’s out of order.
Why the Law Without Relationship Fails
When God gave the Law to Moses, He wasn’t just laying down a set of regulations to make life harder. The Law was meant to guide people into right relationships — with Him, with each other, and with the world around them. It reflected His character and His desire for justice, mercy, and love.
But here’s where it gets tricky. People started treating the Law as an end in itself, thinking if they just followed the rules perfectly, they’d be righteous.
And that’s where they missed the point.
The Law without relationship leads to frustration. Because no matter how hard we try, we can’t keep it perfectly. It’s like trying to bake without all the ingredients — it doesn’t hold together.
God knew this. That’s why He says in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” The people were obsessed with the rituals, the external rules, but they’d lost sight of the heart — relationship with God.
The Law was never supposed to be first. Relationship comes first. And out of that relationship, we find the strength and the desire to live out God’s commandments.
Relationship First, Then the Law
When we focus on relationship with God first, something incredible happens.
Instead of seeing the Law as a burden, we begin to understand it as a reflection of God’s heart. We begin to see that His commands are about living in a way that’s good for us and good for others.
When we know we’re loved, forgiven, and accepted by God, we don’t obey out of fear or duty — we obey out of love. And when we inevitably fail, we don’t fall into despair or shame. We turn back to God, knowing that our relationship with Him isn’t dependent on our perfect rule-following.
The Law can never lead us into a right relationship with God. But a right relationship with God can lead us to joyfully follow His Law.
That’s the key.
It’s like baking those cookies — with the eggs mixed in from the very beginning, everything holds together. It’s whole. It’s complete.
And that’s the kind of life God wants for us. One where His love binds everything together, and out of that love, we live in obedience to Him.
Not out of duty.
But out of joy.
Reflection Questions:
- Do you tend to think of God’s Law as a list of rules, or as a guide to building right relationships? Why?
- In what ways can you live out the spirit of the Law in your relationships today?
- How can you reflect God’s heart of mercy, justice, and compassion in your everyday life?
Prayer: “God, help me to understand the true purpose of Your commands. Let me see Your Law not as a burden, but as a guide to living in right relationship with You and others. Teach me to embody Your love, mercy, and justice in all that I do. Amen.”
Devotional: Cookies, Cracks, and Covenant: Finding Joy in Obedience Through Relationship was originally published in GoodLion Theology on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.