Thoughts from what I'm reading...

I mentioned last week that I have been working through a helpful book entitled Read the Bible For Life  - your guide to understanding and living God's Word.  There have been many little nuggets that I have been gleaning and I thought I might pass one on.
Have you ever been stuck in the Old Testament laws and wondering what the heck this has to do with you, and what you could possibly get out of it?  Here is a helpful process for getting to the principles that may lay behind the laws, that we might learn something about God or human nature and come away with something to apply to our lives today.  This list was offered by J. Daniel Hays:

1)  Determine what the text meant to the biblical audience in their context.
2)  What are the differences and similarities between the ancient biblical audience and readers today eg. covenant, time, place etc.
3) Try to find a general theological principle within the intent of the law that applies to both the ancient biblical audience and readers today.
4)  Determine specific ways to apply this principle today.

As an example from some of the weirder laws, he discusses Ex. 34:26 and the prohibition against boiling a young goat in its mother's milk.   Although we no longer live under the Mosaic law, and this law in particular may have little to no direct relevance to my situation, we can use the above list to try to find some point of learning and application: 

1)   It is likely that this might have referred to a religious Canaanite fertility practice.
2)   We may not be surrounded by Canaanite culture but we are surrounded by many different cultures and many different ceremonies and practices with non-Christian religious overtones.
3)  Don't play around with unhealthy spiritual influences.
4)  You can then figure out some specifics based on your context.

Hope you found this as helpful!