You Should

Tis the season of giving, and it sure is easy to give a lot of rules to folks, eh? We study the word of God and learn the rules. Jesus came to Earth and fulfilled the law. We are freed from slavery to the law by His grace. We turn around and lay a bunch of rules on people. How is it that we manage to do that so well?

Perhaps it is the example of our government: the earth groans with the weight of governmental rules and regulations. It may well come from our childhood authority figures and we just pass it down to the next generation. Some rules are just good advice or warning: Step off a cliff and you'll fall. (Codified under Title 473 of the Code of Federal Regulations: Gravity.) Others help prevent injury to others. Obeying those stop signs ranks kind of high on my list in this category. However, the only real problem with all those rules may begin with the words, 'You should'.

When we preface quoting the rules with that personal command we may err on side of the Pharisees. Those two words say that I know better than the other person and that I know all about his special circumstances, sort of a grand theft of God's place if you will.

Since I don't know all about his or her personal circumstance, I might try it with a little understanding and compassion when another asks my advice. "Hmm, that's a tough situation to live with, I will pray for you and seek God's wisdom in this." Then, if I have personal experience, I could relate a story like, "Back in the day, I faced a similar situation and I did this thing, and I sure wouldn't do that again!" (Too many stories of that nature.) Of course, the first thing was the asking part. A 'You should' is much worse perhaps even socially embarrassing when there has been no asking.

Have a merry Christmas and love those neighbors as yourself!

Bucky