Rules Rules Rules

Teach me, LORD, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.
Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.
Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.
How I long for your precepts!
In your righteousness preserve my life.
- Psalm 119:33-40

There seems to be this popular conception out there that God sits up in heaven looking down on us trying to catch us in some mistake. I hear people say things like, "Religion is just a bunch of rules." Well, religion may be just that. I'm not really into religion, and God isn't either.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27).

God isn't about making us follow a bunch of rules. Why did God give us the Ten Commandments?  Think about it.

One of the commandments is "Do not steal." The Bible also says, "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it" (Psalm 24:1). So the laptop I am writing this on belongs to me, but ultimately it belongs to God. If my neighbor comes over and steals it, he has possession of it, but it still belongs to God (not to me). What difference does it make to God who has possession of the laptop?  It doesn't.

You see, God told us not to steal because He knew that we would have better lives if we didn't steal from one another. He knew life would be better if we didn't kill one another. That is the very essence of the law. It isn't rules for the sake of rules. Those rules are for our benefit.

Some of my friends think I'm crazy (I am) because I believe in the Bible and I try to live as it says (but that's not what makes me crazy).  You see, the better you understand God, and what He wants, the better your life will be.  I'm trying to have the best life I can. If that means being crazy, sign me up.