My house, my rules!

Originally written March 4, 2019

“As long as you live under my roof, you will obey my rules!”

Did you ever hear that when you were growing up?

Did you ever say it to your own children?

Did it work?

What’s the motivation for that statement? What do we hope to achieve?

Does that kind of thinking affect your view of God? After all, if He is our Father, if He has rules, and if He wants us to obey His rules, He must look like we do when we are enforcing our rules.

I thought about all those things when I read these words this morning from a hymn text by Isaac Watts:

“His terrors keep the world in awe; His justice guards his holy law; His love reveals a smiling face; His truth and promise seal the grace.”

When we (or our parents) threw down the “My house, my rules” gauntlet, we (or they) acted as imperfect and incomplete earthly expressions of a parent whose equilibrium was threatened by a rebellious child.

So, for the times we (or they) didn’t do it well, let’s not be too hard on ourselves (or them) since we were operating in a sense of threatened equilibrium.

The answer is not to scuttle the rules and live in chaos, letting those who are most immature and self-centered (because they have not yet grown into understanding) make their own rules.

The answer is to look to our perfect Father—in whose image we are created (not vice versa) and whose equilibrium is never threatened—and seek to find our equilibrium in His perfect blend of perfect grace, holiness, and truth rather than in our changing circumstances.

The perfect Father gives rules for living for our protection and benefit and for His glory.

It is as if He is saying, “I love you so very much. Please don’t remove yourself from the grace and protection of my roof. If you desire the protection and benefits of my roof, you will learn to live within the guardrails I have set up for your good.  And I receive the most glory when you live into the good I have created for you.”

One day Jesus told a broken woman who came to a well that He could give her an unending supply of living water.

“Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

To drink from God’s unending supply is to surrender our ways to the ways of God and to be on a continuous journey of discovering our God-designed purpose.

His “roof” (expressed in His “rules”) is an incredible example of how much our lives matter to Him.

Question: Do you need a better way of looking at His “rules?” Do you need a better way of expressing yours?

Be amazing today, my friend.