Rules

If you do, why do you follow the rules?

 

People have widely different motivations for following rules.  Some spiritual and some not.  There can even be wicked motivations for following rules.

 

Do you follow them because...

...you can see the purpose of the rules?

...it helps you to fit in?

...you trust the person/people who set the rules?

...you want to please the person who set the rules?

...you want to avoid punishment? (but you would break the rules if you could get away with it)

 

Pharisees were not some of Jesus's favourite people, yet they kept the law in a very strict way.  Whether you keep the law and follow the rules or not, if you are not concerned with love, mercy, and justice in a wise balance, you have not the Spirit.

 

Aim to please God by understanding the spirit of the law - the reason it exists.  When particular laws fail to serve that purpose, don't follow them.