Our oldest daughter plays a competitive sport. She recently had a tournament where someone attended who knew a little about the sport, but not a lot. When the tournament was over, the person asked "Is it illegal for them to jump?" This made me laugh. NO, not only is it legal to jump, but they would actually improve their game a great deal if they would jump.....like they have been coached. This person truly believed that there was a rule against jumping.
This started me thinking about other places in our lives where we make up our own rules. Driving....I know what the speed limit is, but I won't get pulled over for driving 5 miles over. Food at events...I know that it says "No Carry-ins," but their food is too expensive and no one will notice if we just hide things in our bag. Our world is filled with situations where people are making up their own rules....drinking and driving, working without paying taxes....the list is long. We have learned to justify our own actions.
What about our faith? Have we started making up rules when it comes to our faith? Well, I can tell you that our family has. When I sat and took a closer look at what we do and what we teach our kids, I certainly see how it looks like we have made up some rules. Here are a few examples of "rules" I see when it comes to faith:
-Sunday is for worshipping God.....that's not a rule, everyday is for worshipping God; many of us go to church on Sunday, but we can also attend church on Saturday or Wednesday. Are we unintentionally communicating to people that if you can't come to church on Sunday morning, then you are not a Christian?
-Praying at Meals....I love praying at meals and I believe it is right for us to give thanks. However, have we been accidentally teaching our children that praying at meals is the only time we pray? or that this prayer needs to be said a certain way? I know that our 4 year old feels he must say a certain prayer...I noticed this yesterday when we prayed a different way as a family and two seconds later our son was saying his usual prayer before he took a bite.
The more I think about it, the more rules I see. I also remember hearing others say, "I could never be a Christian. There are just too many rules to follow." This saddens me. When I look at scripture I really only see two rules that Jesus gave us. The first is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The second is to love our neighbor as ourself. It seems to me that I have complicated faith in our home. I desire for everyone to want to know more about Christ. This week I hope to take a look at our "rules" and see what we are saying to our children and to those who don't know much about Christ. I want them to see the Love of Christ, not our made up rules.
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