Life Without Rules
Where does our strength come from?
There was a time when leaders of the world believed they reigned because God willed it, because God saw favor in them, because they were deserving.
The king rejoices in your strength, O LORD; *how greatly he exults in your victory!You have given him his heart's desire; *you have not denied him the request of his lips.For you meet him with blessings of prosperity, *and set a crown of fine gold upon his head.He asked you for life, and you gave it to him: *length of days, for ever and ever.His honor is great, because of your victory; *splendor and majesty have you bestowed upon him.For you will give him everlasting felicity *and will make him glad with the joy of your presence.For the king puts his trust in the LORD; *because of the loving-kindness of the Most High, hewill not fall.- Psalm 21:1-7
We don't think like that anymore, do we?
Many act as though God has nothing to do with what we achieve in life, or what we become, or who we are. It is all our own doing.
In some ways it is true. We have been given the power, through our free will, to mess things up as much as we are able. We are capable of denying God access, of making our own choices without considering our relationship to Him or anyone else for that matter.
Are we better off that way?
We can be just as ruthless and reckless with our lives if we believe it is God's will, than if we believe it is all our own effort. We have leaders of hateful organizations butchering children in His name, so where is the barometer, the yardstick? Where are the rules?
It has become fashionable to life as though there are no rules. Advertisers build their campaigns around the idea that the rules are there to be broken, and we buy into that.
Perhaps we need to look at the rules in our lives differently. Jesus made it really simple. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.
If we make all our rules according to those, we will find we don't need a lot of rules. We can send all our legislators home and stop all the fighting all over the world.
I guess we just don't want to do those things.
If we did, we would have done it long ago.
More to come...