We have rules in our household, but I hope that my children do more than just follow rules. I want them to understand what it means to be people of love and integrity. The more my children grow to value love and integrity, the less need there will be for rules. The sooner we can dispense with the rules, therefore, the better. It’s not that the rules are bad but that, hopefully the rules will become obsolete as a tool of growth. The problem with rules is that there can never be enough rules to match every situation. At some point we have to learn to discern and apply godly principles to each unique situation for ourselves. Jesus criticised the Pharisees for adding lists of new rules to the existing commandments (Mark 7:8). They did this because the commandments just didn’t give them the detail they needed to live by the law. But God didn’t want them to live by the law ultimately. He wanted them to internalise the values of which the law is an expression. Paul likewise warns the Colossians against those who for whom life is one rule after another; a series of festivals and days that must be observed and lists of detailed prohibitions: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” Living this way may make us feel right, but it is not the way God wants us to live. God gives us rules, but these rules are designed to guide us towards a life that, hopefully, we will value for its own sake. Don’t just follow rules. Become who God wants you to be.
Think of where you need to apply God’s priority of love and grace.
Read Colossians 3
