Relationship Requires Rules
One of the biggest hurdles for every sincere Christian is the obstacle of this one word: OBEDIENCE. Yes, saints, this 4-letter action verb —-O-B-E-Y- (OBEY) has caused many great Bible characters to stumble —starting with Adam & Eve. Others thereafter would fumble also as documented in the Scriptures. Such as Samson, Moses, King Saul, King David, Jonah, Ananias & Sapphira. Oh, but we can’t stop there with names, because we also have Eric, Charles, Robert, Anthony, Steven, Jerome, Brenda, Barbara, Diane, Cynthia, Cheryl, Tiffany AnaMae, Stephanie, and what’s YOUR NAME?
Thankfully, going to heaven is not based on OBEDIENT WORKS, BUT RATHER GRACE AND FAITH GIVEN TO US BY GOD. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV) states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” Yes, going to heaven is predicated upon a faith-based relationship in Christ Jesus; one in which you believe and put all your trust in HIM. Yet, this relationship also involves rules you live by and guidelines that help you conform to be more like Christ.
Hence, my BIG IDEA for this devotion is Relationship Requires Rules. The featured Scripture is found in James 1:25, and it reads as follows in the New International Version…
“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do” – (NIV).
Consider this, a whale is free to swim about the vast waters of the oceans and seas, yet that same whale cannot survive upon the sand of the seashore. Likewise, we as Christians have great liberties within our relationship with God, nonetheless we are governed by boundaries and rules. Although we have been set free by Jesus, and “whom the Son has set free is free indeed,” we are STILL governed by rules of conduct as outlined in the Word of God. That which isn’t explicitly written in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit makes us aware of. Thus, holding us accountable to be “doers” of THE WORD.
In fact, James himself closes any loophole a person could seek to exploit and use as an excuse for non-Christlike practices by stating in chapter four verse seventeen of his epistle, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
What I am saying is this, —RELATIONSHIP REQUIRES RULES, —and EVERYONE must be governed by rules, and those boundaries afford us the freedom and safety to enjoy the rights, privileges, and blessings that God has allocated for us!
