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Are You a Rule-Follower or Rule-Breaker?

Blog 2021.01.20

How would you categorize a Christian? Rule-makers or rule-breakers?

As we look at Mark Chapter 2 Jesus clearly reveals himself as a rule-breaker, on more than one occasion.  The Pharisees seemed to constantly be shaking their fingers at him and his disciples for breaking their rules. And in this passage especially, Jesus makes it clear that rules were made for breaking. Jesus rebukes the rule-makers saying, ‘Hey, back off, you just don’t get it, do you?’

In many ways, followers of Christ need to be rule-breakers, too. The Christian life is a life of love, a whirlwind relationship where your love for Jesus is so intense, so infectious, so consuming that it makes you break dead, lifeless, control-oriented rules so you can follow Him wherever He goes, not just a few limited places.

An all-too-common mistake that causes the Christian to miss their target of knowing and following Christ is to shift their focus of knowing and following Jesus to knowing and following “rules” without even realizing it. But Jesus dared to break the precious rules that the Pharisees so fervently upheld.

The Pharisees and religious rulers had heaped an impossible burden of rule-following on the people. To adhere to the letter of all their rules required such focus that it allowed no room for what Jesus showed to be more important. Such things included serving and caring for other people, promoting justice, and loving mercy.

Rule after rule after rule, Jesus broke apart everything those rule-followers believed would bring them closer to God. While they did everything they could to avoid “the sinner” who might pollute them from their “holiness,” Jesus sought out the “contaminated” in order to make them whole.

Philip Yancy penned this in What’s So Amazing About Grace:

We ourselves can be agents of God’s holiness, for God now dwells within us. In the midst of an unclean world, we can stride, as Jesus did, seeking ways to be a source of holiness. The sick and the maimed are for us, not hot spots of contamination but potential reservoirs of God’s mercy. We are called upon to extend that mercy, to be conveyers of grace, not avoiders of contagion.

As you enter this week, pray this bold, rule-breaking prayer:

Lord, help me to be a trouble-maker for you today.
Give me the courage to focus on my relationship with you
instead of focusing on the rules I have let run my life. Amen.

Personal Study Time And Reflection Questions: Read Mark Chapter 2What conclusions about Jesus can you draw from the ways in which He handled opposition and controversy? What can His example teach you about how you should handle opposition, controversy, and unpopularity?

Jesus saw the Pharisees as being too legalistic concerning their efforts to keep the Sabbath holy. Today, our society is so lax about the Sabbath that it
doesn’t seem much different than a Saturday. But truly keeping the Sabbath
isn’t just about rest. It is that in our rest, we turn our attention to God.

Consider your routine activities for any given Sunday. Examine each activity to see if it brings your attention to God or gives you a distinct period or rest. This activity isn’t necessarily meant for you to “pat yourself on the back” but rather to find areas that you might adapt in order that the Sabbath could better become the gift God intended it to be – a day of rest in Him.