Not set in stone

As beautiful as this is, it will not grow.

Deuteronomy 5:8 instructs You shall not make for yourself any graven image. We are prone to interpret that as false gods, the kind the early Israelites made and set up before themselves and worshiped. 

But is that the true meaning of Deuteronomy 5:8?

I think not. I think it is telling us, don't take an incident, an action, a thought or a value and hold on to it as though it alone is true. Because that is carving it in stone. And life is not like that.

That is death.

Life is change. Life is learning. Life is journey.

I think that is one of the many reasons why we are urged to forgive. Because to refuse to forgive is in effect saying that that one action, that one incident, is carved into my memory. I will never let that memory go. I will always look at that person in light of that one action. And that too is death.

We do the same with opinions. We get an opinion, and then we hold on to it, and refuse to see some other value or way of looking at it. In effect, we have carved that opinion into stone and then worshiped our ideal as the only one true.

And any graven image is a dead image.

To refuse to carve an image in stone is to honor life.

I have heard it said that if we say we know someone like a book, then we really don't know that person at all. Because we are not books. We are human beings. 

And so, the same can be said of setting ideas, memories, or events in stone. It is the opposite of growth, enlightenment, and transformation.

And scripture says, Jesus came that we might have life, a life that grows, matures, and changes.