Thursday,
October 5, 2023
Every rule created by humankind has helped and hurt! This is true in businesses, communities, families,
and any other kind of human interaction, particularly in government! Rules are mostly created to limit bad
results. On the highways, properly
signaling you’re about to make a turn is intended to help the other cars refrain
from plowing into your car. If you
forget to signal, it creates confusion; worse, if you signal the opposite of
what you’re going to do, signaling a right turn, and then you hang a sharp a
left…well, the consequences could have mortal impact. The rule against making noise in the library is
meant to make concentrating on reading easier.
However, the rule should be loudly-violated if the library is on fire! The rule in business of the customer is
always right makes for a pleasant shopping experience…except if the
customer pulls out a .45 caliber pistol and demands all the money.
Properly-observed, rules serve a purpose, but only so far. When they become bludgeons to manipulate
others, it’s time to “rule-out” the rules, go back to square-one, and be ruled
by a higher purpose. This is Paul’s
meaning about the world’s rules.
When Christ sets a soul free, to be guided by the higher bar of love,
legalistic rule-following never measures-up!
Legalism in the Christian often manifests itself as ugly, cold-hearted
cruelty. You can’t touch that…don’t
go there…and, for Heaven’s sake do not drink THAT! These probably have
their origin in some higher purpose, but eventually must be put aside if they
become idols, compelling us to rely on our personal self-denial, discipline,
and skills. When we worship what we do
as being acceptable to God, we have lost all sense of what God really asks of
us. And what is that, which he requires? Check out what Scripture says:
Love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, obey his
commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your
soul.” Joshua 22:5b
This is a Christian’s principle.
Serving God with all your heart and soul is looking beyond rules to the
heart of God’s love and mercy. This was
what was wrong with the Pharisees. In
Matthew’s Gospel we find the Pharisees judging Jesus and his disciples for
breaking rules; they were walking through a wheat field on a Sabbath day and were
hungry. They broke off some of the stems
to nibble, and the Pharisees read them the riot act because they were breaking the
Sabbath rules by “harvesting” wheat on the holy day. Jesus told them:
But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the
meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ Matthew 12:7
Paul educated the church folks at Rome to be this way:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is
evil; hold fast to what is good. Romans
12:9
For You Today
So the principle comes down to this…don’t
be a phony, breaking rules that are sensible commands of love that resonate
with the heart of God, or by trying to manipulate others with rules that give
you an edge. Instead, let love be your
rule…doing the best to others, for
God.
There are about 2,600 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.
Title Image(s) courtesy of Pixabay.com
Images without citation are in public domain. Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT©
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