Tuesday's reading is Jeremiah 31:31-34
This passage is about a liberating relationship, a freedom from living life by a rule book.
This got me thinking about the rules concerning addressing our Queen. I can't pretend to know an awful lot about it. From what I understand the first time you are brought in to her presence you call her You Majesty, and after that you say Ma'am. The only other thing I know is that you mustn't turn your back to her.
How different it must be for other members of the royal family. They are still, in theory, the Queen's subjects, but they enjoy are far more informal relationship with her.
The difference is that when we address the Queen, it is her office that we are addressing. When a close friend or relative addresses the Queen, it is the person that they address. They will still show respect, but it is the respect due a respected friend.
This is what God is seeking for us. God wants us to move from a situation where we study a rule-book in great detail, trying not to offend our Might Creator, to one where we live our lives to please our Heavenly Father, because we love Him, and because we love that He loves us. When we are in this sort of close relationship, we won't need rules. Not because 'anything goes', but because we will be living to please God anyway.
Tim
