A New Playlist -Part Four (Based on the book by Jacob Armstrong)

Are you a rule follower, or a rule breaker? I think all of us, by nature, fall more toward one category than the other. We either are people who enjoy rules, who gain satisfaction by checking all the boxes (or, who maybe are just scared to death of consequences) or we are people who think that rules are made to be broken, and we see them as guidelines, or maybe suggestions. Personally, I’m a rule follower. I love lists and checkmarks, and when I do come to the point where I have to break a rule, I often stress about it way too much, and for way too long.

As we’ve talked about before, the Bible is full of commands for us to follow. If you are looking for a set of rules, the Bible is a great place to start. Micah 6:8 is one of my favorite sets of rules from the Old Testament. The prophet tells us to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.” Justice, mercy, and humility are pretty much markers of what it means to be a good human. Christ-follower or not, if we could just focus on living with these attributes of standing up for the hurting, of expressing forgiveness and kindness, and of seeing ourselves humbly, not as better or more important than those around us—I think the world would be a much nicer place in which to exist.

I was teaching the younger boys at MBH yesterday about the 10 Commandments. We were attempting to name them all without looking. They did a pretty good job, although they added some things like “don’t slap people” and “keep your hands to yourself.” Also, over and over and over again, the boys tried to list the Golden Rule as one of the commandments. I kept redirecting them, and explaining that it was a great rule, but that it wasn’t one of the original 10. However, the Golden Rule is such a succinct explanation of not only the 10 Commandments, but of the entire law of God. In the Gospels, Jesus said the entire law is summed up by loving God and loving our neighbor. When we focus on loving God and loving our neighbor, and really live that out, we are by default going to treat others how we want to be treated.

 It’s kind of liberating to realize that all of these rules that we are to follow are basically just the same two rules, repeated over and over again, phrased differently throughout Scripture. If we are focused on loving God, we are going to keep the Sabbath, and set aside that time to honor Him. If we are truly loving our neighbor, we aren’t going to lie, or slander, or judge, or act in prideful manner. And of course, we all know that we aren’t going to keep even these two rules 100% of the time. We all have times when we are not as loving toward God or neighbor as we want to be. But, if we can just focus on increasing our love, rather than on the lists that are set before us, I feel that we will be a lot more joyful in our obedience. Rule follower or rule breaker—Love. That’s all we need to remember, that’s all we need to do. Out of our love with flow our obedience, our compassion, and our ability to be Christ to a world that’s hurting.