Rule Followers Anonymous

I am a rule follower.  I always have been.  Growing up, when I was disobedient or misbehaved in some way, all my mom had to say was, “I’m disappointed in you,” and it reduced me to a puddle.  (To be fair I was and still am extremely stubborn and have always liked to do things my way. Mom, for the record, I am by no means scarred by hearing this and I'm sure I deserved it at times!) I took pride in trying to give my parents as little grief as possible growing up.  (I still gave them plenty, let’s be real). 

As a math teacher, I had far more students who disliked math than enjoyed it like I do.  “WHY do you like math so much?” they’d often ask incredulously, as if there couldn’t possibly be a reasonable answer to that question.  After getting asked this question so many times over the years, I developed a go to response: “Because there’s always a right answer.  I find great comfort in that.  There’s too much uncertainty in this world.”  Then I’d walk away, leaving them to ponder my brilliant reasoning.  Math has clear rules that, when followed, yield a correct answer.

John 5:1 – 18 tells the story of the lame man healed at the pool of Bethesda.  When Jesus tells the man to pick up his mat and walk, he does it.  No questions asked.  The problem was, this event took place on the Sabbath.  The Jews who saw the man carrying his mat got upset because, according to them, the law forbid him to carry his mat on the Sabbath.  When they confront him about it, the guy basically says, “Well, Jesus told me to pick up my mat and walk.  So I did.  So there.”  While Jews concerned themselves with obeying rules, the healed man was more focused on following Jesus.  The difference was, the healed man had had a personal encounter with Jesus, experiencing a change in his life.  The other Jews had not.  

Unfortunately, many of us, myself included, tend to relate more to the Jews than the healed man in this story.  We’ve been raised in Christian homes, for the most part have always been “good people” and, as a result, we start to forget our need for Jesus and the cross.  We all know people who have these amazing testimonies where the Lord literally rescued them from the pit and while it’s awesome to hear these stories of God’s power, we feel like we haven’t experienced this power in our own lives.  It has taken me many years to realize that there was just as much grace involved in me not having to experience the pit to know Jesus as it took for Him to rescue others out of it.

In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”   Fellow rule followers, let’s commit to spending time in the Word each day not to check a box off of our to-do lists, but to fall more in love with our Savior.  The obedience that follows will then serve to make Jesus look good, not ourselves.