When I was a kid, my brother and I would play a lot of games. Card games mostly, but Monopoly and Sorry were favorites. In every game there are rules. Different games have different rules. Sometimes landing on an opponent’s square will send you back to Home. Other times you have to pay huge rental fees. If you can muddle through four hours of Monopoly and come out a winner, hats off to you for endurance. A person only jumps into that game when they are snowbound. My family used to play Hearts and spent a good deal of time trying to teach me Poker. That game drove me nuts. I could never remember which set of cards beat which…even with a cheat sheet. Never mind the bidding and raises and calls or trying to bluff. Poker is way too serious for me.
Ever try to play a game with a friend for the first time only to find out that each played by a different set of rules? I found out early on that rules for the same game can be different depending on the part of the country the players came from or if rules have been changed to meet the needs of the family. Those family rules traditionally get passed on to the next generation, and after a few times of that, the game barely resembles the original. A couple of new friends playing an old game with different rules is like walking a social tightrope. Whose rules will win out? Who’s going to concede to learn new rules? Or maybe the rules will be combined and a whole new set of rules will emerge. It didn’t matter. Friends just having a good time were never really serious about rules or who won. Well, my brother was, but that’s my brother. He was a stickler for the rules.
Rules are boundaries. They are like fences keeping things in as well as out. They can be comforting on some level because you know the rules apply to everyone and you can do almost anything you want INSIDE the precincts of those boundaries. There is a sense of freedom and security inside a cage of rules, depending on the size of the cage and if the rules stay the same. However, rules do not encourage faith. They tend to lead the confined into comfortable routines whose only vision is to protect all the rules.
When we encourage ourselves and others to step out of the proverbial box of rules we can become what God intended and where Abundance waits. However, on the other side of the Wall of Rules is also the unknown. Risk may ask us to make adjustments in our thinking or change our lifestyle. Study, commitment and emotions may become involved. Our old ideals might be replaced with new ones.
Could it be that is why God gave us only ONE rule to remember? One rule isn’t a boundary; it’s the central idea. The open ended one rule “love your neighbor” encourages our imagination and faith. The rules of the Old Testament were about what NOT to do. The one rule of the New Testament is about what TO DO. Without a formal list to help us keep track, we are free to discover on our own what we CAN do to comply. If we are listening, the Lord will reveal to us new ways to spread the Gospel, help the needy, and make new friends. We might even become less serious about ourselves and have fun in the free fall.
Luke 10:27-28
..."That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself." "Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."
Ever try to play a game with a friend for the first time only to find out that each played by a different set of rules? I found out early on that rules for the same game can be different depending on the part of the country the players came from or if rules have been changed to meet the needs of the family. Those family rules traditionally get passed on to the next generation, and after a few times of that, the game barely resembles the original. A couple of new friends playing an old game with different rules is like walking a social tightrope. Whose rules will win out? Who’s going to concede to learn new rules? Or maybe the rules will be combined and a whole new set of rules will emerge. It didn’t matter. Friends just having a good time were never really serious about rules or who won. Well, my brother was, but that’s my brother. He was a stickler for the rules.
Rules are boundaries. They are like fences keeping things in as well as out. They can be comforting on some level because you know the rules apply to everyone and you can do almost anything you want INSIDE the precincts of those boundaries. There is a sense of freedom and security inside a cage of rules, depending on the size of the cage and if the rules stay the same. However, rules do not encourage faith. They tend to lead the confined into comfortable routines whose only vision is to protect all the rules.
When we encourage ourselves and others to step out of the proverbial box of rules we can become what God intended and where Abundance waits. However, on the other side of the Wall of Rules is also the unknown. Risk may ask us to make adjustments in our thinking or change our lifestyle. Study, commitment and emotions may become involved. Our old ideals might be replaced with new ones.
Could it be that is why God gave us only ONE rule to remember? One rule isn’t a boundary; it’s the central idea. The open ended one rule “love your neighbor” encourages our imagination and faith. The rules of the Old Testament were about what NOT to do. The one rule of the New Testament is about what TO DO. Without a formal list to help us keep track, we are free to discover on our own what we CAN do to comply. If we are listening, the Lord will reveal to us new ways to spread the Gospel, help the needy, and make new friends. We might even become less serious about ourselves and have fun in the free fall.
Luke 10:27-28
..."That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself." "Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."
