Why all the Rules?

Why all the Rules?

I wrote previously that I don’t know why people wouldn’t want to get God’s order in their lives. There are so many obvious benefits. I have a sneaking suspicion though; many people don’t like structure because they don’t like rules. I think at times we view any kind of structure or parameter as legalism. Legalism being the method that many churches have used in the past, and many religious belief systems have used and still use to get people to adhere to the rules of that specific organization.

These are two different things. When Paul told us we could be free, he wasn’t saying you don’t have to honor, respect and submit to authority anymore, as a matter of fact he said that we should not use our freedom as an opportunity to be rebellious.

There are many differences between legalism and God’s order. The first and most important is the approach. Legalism approaches externally. Rules are given out to force us to obey. God’s order approaches internally. God changes our hearts, and when our hearts change it flows out of us and produces external change. We can make rules to force people to do what we want, but in their heart they may hate it and be rebelling even if they obey. However, if God changes a person’s heart, to want to obey, then when they do it’s based on submission not on condemnation. Jesus himself said in a verse so rarely quoted, John 3:17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Another difference between legalism and God’s order is the attitude of structure. When God tells us we need to do something it is never arbitrary. He never has the attitude, although He could, “you do it, because I said, I’m God.” He wants our obedience because He truly knows what’s best for us. Legalism is crafted by man, and has a manipulative or controlling purpose. Its attitude is very much one that says, “Do it because I said so.” God’s attitude is always about helping His kids. He is continually leading us to understand we can trust Him and if we do things His way, our life will be so much better.

The last difference between legalism and God’s order is its aim. God has an aim or purpose for everything He wants, asks, or commands us to do. His purpose is always two fold as far as I can tell. One, He wants our lives to benefit His kingdom. The bible says “He would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” His purpose for His order in our lives first, is to bring Glory to His name and draw people to His kingdom. Secondly, he wants to benefit us as individuals. The word says in John 10:10 “the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come to give you life, and life more abundant. He wants to bless us, and that is exactly what His order does to our lives. It puts our priorities in perspective. It places parameters and guidelines in our lives that serve to develop and grow us up as followers of Christ. Legalism is about the outside, order is about the inside. Legalism is about manipulation and force, order is about empowerment and true freedom from chaos. Legalism is about arbitrary rules, and order is about purpose.

Let me give you a visual example of legalism versus order. What if I had a pear tree in my back yard and it was time for the tree to bare fruit. I can see myself walking out to that tree and thinking, “I’m going to get one of those juicy pears off the tree take it in, wash it off and eat it.” What if as I walk up to the tree, I notice, there’s nothing on it. No pears, not one. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if I said, “that’s embarrassing; my tree doesn’t have any fruit my neighbors are going to laugh?” Now isn’t that stupid? Why would my neighbors care? Do you know what would be even more ridiculous? If out of my embarrassment, I thought, “I can’t let my neighbors see a tree with no fruit.” Wouldn’t they think I was crazy if they looked out and saw me taping pears to my tree, just so the tree would look like it was doing what it was supposed to? That’s what legalism does, it places rules on the external and demands action so everything looks like it is fulfilling its purpose, but it’s really not. Order would say, cultivate the tree, water it, care for it, nurture it and it will produce fruit, then you don’t have to pretend to have fruit, you don’t have to put fruit on the tree, you just have to watch it grow and enjoy it. Galatians says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, temperance and faith. These things can’t be forced, they can’t be demanded, they can only be borne and they are only borne when things are done in order. So let’s stop “putting it on”, and start baring it out.

Today, don’t fear order, embrace it. Submitting to Gods order places us in the center of His will and plan for our lives. It empowers us to grow and lead others to grow. Let order saturate your heart and produce the fruit of the spirit on the branches of your life.

Clear the Clutter…

 

Have you ever moved?  If you’re like me you would rather get poked in the eye with a tire iron, than to pack everything up and move it.  The one thing I’ve noticed about moving is, each time we’ve done it we have more stuff than the last time. 

       Some of this “stuff” is no doubt excellent and has great purpose, but when you look around, you realize, a lot of it is useless junk.  Toys your kids haven’t played with in years.  Things that you bought, and said, “I have to have this!” then hardly used it. 

The question is how does all this accumulation affect us?  One effect is, it clutters our homes.  Have you ever felt like you’re cleaning and picking up constantly?  It feels like the job’s never done. 

Another effect is a lack of space.  Have you ever wanted to put your car in the garage, but there was no room?  The garage is made to keep your car out of the weather, and give you easy access to your home, but if you have needless accumulation the car stays outside and you walk in the winter weather to get to the front door and your stuff is packed neatly and “warmly” I might add, in the garage.

Our lives at times look like this type of house.  They are filled will accumulated trinkets of one kind or another. The thing about clutter is, it doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, if there’s not room for it in the house it throws everything out of order.  Hebrews 12:1 says “therefore we also, since we are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin….”  You know, it’s not always sinful and bad things that complicate our lives, sometimes it can be things that are moral and positive but because there is no room for them in our lives they become a weight.  

       Life’s accumulations are just like the clutter in our house, they create an environment where we are constantly picking up after ourselves but don’t seem to be making any progress.  Just like the garage not being used appropriately, our lives many times get out of order because of all the extra accumulation.  When we should be spending time in prayer, or with our families, or working on our marriage, those things which are true priority, we are running around, trying to be seen with the right people, to have the right stuff, and be involved in the right extra curricula’s, yeah, “walking in the cold to the front door, instead of parking in the safety of the garage with easy access to the house.” 

        Another thing accumulation causes is indecisiveness.  We are worried about finances, and relationships, about acceptance and lack of time.  Our mind is so full, going in so many directions that we can’t decide what needs to be done.  We become double minded. 

I know its winter, but it’s time for a good spring cleaning.  Sweep out the clutter; get rid of things that are not truly priority.  Matthew 6:31 (msg) says ^“What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. ³²People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.”

How do we de-clutter our lives? How do we measure what’s necessary and what’s not?  How do we know when something that is not wrong has become unnecessary accumulation?

       What do we do when our house gets cluttered?  We clean house.  We put things in order. 

Cleaning house takes the renewal of some things and the removal of others.  We have to renew our priorities.  Those things that God says are most important, and then remove the things that steal time and devotion from them.    

       Sometimes we create worry and anxiety in our lives, being frustrated over all the clutter.  We say, “I am so tired of this clutter.” “I am so busy; I don’t have time to clean up.”  The problem with this mind set is nothing changes, as a matter of fact it gets worse and we become more anxious.  Let’s just do what Jesus said, and relax.  Quit fretting and worrying, and clean up.  Matthew 6:33(NKJ) says “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”

       By doing this we are renewing our focus, we are removing distractions.  We are setting our lives in order to fulfill their true purpose, and to achieve true happiness and fulfillment.

       So, gather your family around, get your broom, and start sweeping.  And before you know it, you’ll be parking in the garage again.  Have a great Christ Centered day.

      

 

-David Gadberry

 

We can learn from anyone especially our kids…

Great day yesterday….very productive. I had the privilege to attend open house at my daughter Sydney’s school. She is in first great and very smart by the way. She really is a brilliant child. Sweet, Kind, sharp, funny, and very expressive. It was good to observe her element. We see our kids in our element all the time, but do you ever stop to just watch them around their peers, and at their school.

We looked through all her papers, and we did a math center together, then she read me a wonderful story about the friendship between a boy and his pet. She also reads well. Am I bragging to much? You’ll get your turn. I was truly blessed by her for an entirely different reason.

As we walked through the halls, different kids would say, “hey Sydney”, “how ya doing Sydney?” and they were all very enthusiastic about saying hello to her. At one point i was talking to the school counselor a friend of mine, and as we stood there talking a young Hispanic girl came up and hugged Sydney around the neck and the whole family said hello to Sydney. The counselor said to me, “did you see what just happened there?” I said yeah, they said hi to Sydney, He said, you have to understand this is who Sydney is. She befriends everyone, especially the kids who have obstacles to deal with. This particular girl speaks very broken English and her family as well.

He said Sydney really connects and cares about people, and doesn’t let any barrier keep her from connecting.

This gives me pride. I love people, I love to be around people, I love to deal with people issues, its what I do. However i have to admit, sometimes when there are barriers, I find it easier to move on then take the time to cross them.

One more thing she showed me, was her “I have a dream” paper.  They did a section on Martin Luther King Jr.  She was very artistic and her coloring exquisite of cours…”here i go again,” but what she wrote was the most important.  She wrote…”My dream for the world, is to love God, and everybody everyday,” and “My dream for our country, is no war, and no more arguing.”

I think if will listen, we might learn something.

Lets all take it from Sydney and develop relationship beyond any barriers. I think it would make for a better world….

What do you think?……..