HAPPY MONDAY!
A group of skeptical faces inspired today’s word-of-the-week…
PRINCIPLES
“Jesus doesn’t care about rules.”
I could see the skepticism…another anything-goes liberal. When you’re speaking to a group, a controversial statement is a good way to galvanize attention, but you’d better be prepared to follow up with revolution prevention material.
What do you think? Does Jesus care about rules?
Rules are part of a game. They’re man-made, they’re arbitrary, they’re situational, and they change.
None of those describes anything about Jesus. He talked about simple, timeless principles and condemned the “religious experts” whose sole concern was obedience to man-made rules.
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. (Luke 11:46)
The problem, of course, is that we all create rules in circumstances that matter a lot to us. We usually do this with the best intentions, but a rule, once created, often becomes more important than individuals. Entire layers develop devoted strictly to enforce the rules, often simply because they’re the rules.
It’s Monday. I suggest that we consider Jesus’ way…principles rather than rules.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Could it be that we make obedience something He doesn’t intend?
Have a great week!
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I think rules are both harder and easier to follow than principles. Jesus brought freedom from so many of the Old Testament laws which the Israelites struggled to follow… and yet his principles of going the extra mile, loving your enemies, keeping your heart from sin as well as your body…. went above and beyond the laws themselves. Rules are clear-cut: do this, don’t do that. To follow principles, you have to understand the heart of the matter. I can’t know what Jesus wants me to do in a situation without knowing Him and without seeking Him and becoming like Him. I need to know Him to know His principles. But rules? My human mind understands rules.
I think that Christians have a tendency to lean too much on rules, and now there’s a backlash against them. In my generation, I believe, too much of this is happening because of relativism in the guise of tolerance. In the past four years, I’ve heard more people – Christian and not – quote “judge not” than any other passage of Scripture.
But do we truly understand that following God’s principles instead of man’s rules costs us MORE, not less? It will make us MORE counter-cultural, MORE passionate, less able to fit in and stand by and do and say nothing. It will change HOW we do these things, of course – but it will not cause us to stop doing them.
I agree that the rules are not what matters. The principles are.
I just don’t think most people realize what the results of following God’s principles must be.