My boys often try to create rules—not for themselves, but for me and their brothers. These rules never apply to them. Recently, I discovered I had violated an imaginary schedule I never knew existed. When I broke this phantom rule, my son promptly informed me of my transgression.
I already have rules for my house—rules designed to help those who live here thrive and flourish, to foster fairness and justice. When I create these rules, I do so from a position of authority as a parent. There’s a reason 6-year-olds don’t get to make the rules.
Many people try to rewrite the statutes of the Bible, enforcing their own interpretations that conveniently favor their positions. They declare, “You are not a Christian if you _____________.” When I hear such rules from the perspective of humanity, it’s like listening to a 6-year-old make the rules to govern a house. They insist that to follow Christ, you must support their personalized cause.
But we do not make up the rules—we merely uncover them through God’s Word. God has already told us what we must do to follow Christ. We begin with the Greatest Commandment (Mark 12:29-31), where love for God and love for neighbor are so intertwined they work in tandem. Yet because this can feel abstract, God provides specific details throughout the New Testament. These are the verses that are hard to swallow because we see ourselves in them, recognizing they expose where we fail to love God or others.
1 John 3:4-7 – “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.”
Galatians 5:19-21 – “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
1 John 3:15 – “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
Even though it may be difficult to wrestle with, we must understand that Jesus the Messiah came first and foremost to take away sin. This is why He died on the cross. We should be willing to address the log in our own eye before looking at the speck in someone else’s. When we do this, the other “rules” take care of themselves.
It is foolish to add laws or rules beyond what God has already established. In human terms, He is the parent—He knows what is best. He designed us and knows what leads to human flourishing and success. I trust that He is right and does not need me inventing my own rules. What I can do is ensure I have put away sinful desires in my own life. You don’t have to make your own rules. You simply need to know the ones God has already given you. And when you apply them to your life, you recognize that we don’t have to make our own rules; we need God to Make Us New.