Rebel with a cause

I am not naturally rebellious. I am a rule follower. Give me a rule; I will follow it. I am horrified by the idea of failing to meet others' expectations, and even more distraught at the thought of actually getting into trouble. Last week we were rebuked by the association where we live for using sidewalk chalk on the walkway to our apartment. I cried. Now, I'm pretty sure I was not just crying about breaking the rule, but it pushed me over the edge nonetheless.

You have to love the way God works, though, because He has pushed my rule-following ways to the absolute limit lately. You see, for some reason He has instilled this far greater need within me to follow Jesus. Jesus first, rules second. That might sound strange, because we usually assume that those two are equivalent. Jesus made the rules, right?

Not necessarily. Jesus laid out a passion, a plan, and a purpose for each of our lives. When we look to His life, His teaching, and His example we gain a clear picture of how we are to live. The problem is that over time we tend to develop an aching need to paint the picture a little clearer and add to the example of Christ.

Sometimes we can become so bogged down in following our revised vision of the Christian life that we lose sight of Christ altogether (Mark 7). When we lose sight of Christ, the clear passion, plan and purpose for our lives becomes lost as well. We begin to live in a morality bubble where following the rules somehow trumps following Christ.

Lately, there have been moments where I actually feel rebellious. Strange, isn't it, that I could feel rebellious following Christ? Especially seeing as how it most often occurs when I'm with other Christians. . .

Rules aren't bad or wrong. Sometimes I think we just forget the why behind the rule and the rule becomes the end instead of the means. Or we just accept the rule without really processing it through the words and life of Christ to determine if its actually legitimate.

Jesus first. Rules second.

If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15

It isn't that we're not to be obedient, only that our obedience flows first from our love. We focus on our relationship with Christ and look to Him for our standards for living. Love Him first and obedience to Him follows quite easily.

Jesus first. Rules second.

Works every time. . .