LD 34 - You Can Be Freed From Idolatry

Near the beginning of the world God spoke this invitation to his people: do well and live (Gen. 4:7). That offer still stands. God wants us to live according to his design, prospering in his world as we respect his boundaries. And in his kindness he has given us an internal guide called a conscience that bears witness to right and wrong (Rom. 2:15). With surprising consistency we sense when we are on track and when we have veered off course.

But our consciences aren't autonomous—they answer to the objective moral code by which God governs the world. So to do well we cannot simply do what we want but what God wants. And God has told us what he wants. "He has told you, O man, what is good" (Micah 6:8). Truly good works "conform to God's law" (Q/A 91). So the catechism devotes eleven lessons to the law of God.