Rules of Life

137/365

This summer is the first summer that our lake house has been graced with the presence of a ping pong table. If any of you know our family, you can understand what kind of competitive spirit this has awakened within us all. Night and day, since the moment of our arrival, we have been mesmerized with table tennis.

For the holiday weekend, we decided to have a full blown ping pong tournament, complete with double elimination bracketology. Once the games began, a question arose within the game in regards to the regulated rules outlined by the USATTA (United States of America Table Tennis Association). Immediately, after much conversation, Brian went inside and obtained the official guidelines to fair play. No one wanted to break the rules. No one wants to be a cheater. All we want is to know that we did our best, played fairly, and did not create our own rules.

Joshua 1:8
“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.” - NLT

Instructions: What a difference they make. Rules, like boundaries, are in place for a reason. If you are anything like me, regrettably, you tend to make your own rules until something goes horribly wrong…then, and only then, do you concede to the authentic Book of law.

In all honesty, it is so hard for me to be told what to do…or in the case of the Bible, what not to do. Sometimes, has odd as it sounds, I just want the chaos that comes with no instruction. But, as I have learned time and time again, chaotic living on the outside only fuels frenzied living on the inside as well.

Life isn’t just a game. We cannot learn as we go or decide to consult the rules when someone else disagrees with our methods. To be what God designed us to be, means knowing what instructions He has set before us.

We must, above all, remember: Life is a gift, not a game.