Our dog, Winston, has a thing for my socks. Whenever he's running around in the house he'll look to see if our bedroom door is open and, if it is, he'll make a mad dash inside. He knows with certainty that this will get my attention and he's also learned he'll usually find at least one pair of my dirty socks somewhere on the floor. This is a wondrous thing for Winston. He will grab them and run like a bandit in possession of the King's Visa card.
He covets my socks. When I corner him and grab the socks he will fight me to retain possession...at least for a while.
I have tried to ignore Winston's behavior, hoping he would realize that old dirty socks are really of no value, but that's only resulted in my finding sock shreds adorning the house and yard. He doesn't get it. To Winston, having the socks is more important than the socks themselves.
Today I'm thinking Winston's sensibilities are not too far afield from some of my fellow Christians who are squabbling over a big rock in Alabama.
I don't get it. This isn't a dogfight over ideology, no matter how we truss it up. It's a battle over a boulder. Make no mistake, I believe the Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of our judicial system. You try to take that away...I'll fight you. But as far as I'm concerned carving God's law into a rock is not as important as etching it into our beings.
If you want to tussle over a piece of granite, you rock...I'll roll.
And I'll pray it's only my socks I find in shreds when we're all through.
EXODUS 20:1-4
And God spoke all these words:
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before me.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below"
