Why Does God Make People Follow a Bunch of Rules?
He doesn’t…although Christians often make it seem that way.
A Bit of Background
Can I just be straight with you all and tell you I didn’t want to write this post? Not that it’s not an important topic, it is! However, I just knew writing it was going to take a LOT of thought and explanation.
But sometimes the Holy Spirit directs you in a way you’re not necessarily excited to go. That’s fitting, considering the topic at hand. This makes me think of last Saturday, just a couple of days ago. You see, I’m a runner and I do my long runs on Saturday morning. This week my schedule called for nine miles.
I wasn’t excited to do it. I knew the route I was going to take and there were some wicked hills. Now, any of my longtime running friends will tell you that I love running hills. And I do. But this week I was NOT feeling it. I was tired before I started and in the very first mile was still debating whether to keep going. Note that is VERY unusual. But I kept going for one simple fact, I knew I’d be glad to have gotten it done. Which I was. It was good to have done it…and especially good that it was over.
You see, I finished because I was experienced enough to know that finishing the run was the best thing for me at that moment, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Man Made Rules
Churches make up rules to keep people on their definition of “the straight and narrow”. I graduated from a conservative Christian university. A great school, I’m so happy I went there. Many amazing memories and lifelong relationships came from those years, the most important of which is my lovely wife. But there were rules. Rules about what you could not wear, and about what you must wear. Rules about places you weren’t allowed to go. Rules about activities you weren’t allowed to participate in.
Now, for the university I get that they were trying to uphold a certain standard. Of course, I don’t understand how that standard changed from that time to today…where the dress code is much more relaxed. Maybe they got to the point where they realized what we’re going to talk about in this post.
One time we checked out a church in that area from a different denomination. During the message the pastor said that if you didn’t agree with his position on the dinosaurs, he would “break fellowship” with you. Talk about strict rules!
Churches and Christians make up rules on what they believe is an accurate interpretation of the Bible, often applied to their current culture. Some rules are drawn directly from the Bible. Either way, adherence to these rules is usually required to be part of the organization.
Before we go any further let me say that these rules aren’t always bad…but often the way they are presented reflects poorly on God and His Word.
God Doesn’t Force Compliance
Let’s go back to the original question; “Why does God make people follow a bunch of rules?” The simple answer is that He does not.
“But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
-Joshua 24:15 NASB
“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve.” You can follow God or not follow God. You can do what it says in the Bible, or you can ignore it and do whatever you like.
If the current culture has taught us anything it is this, people will often do what pleases them in the moment, no matter what the opinion of God might be.
Ah, but you say, “to be a Christian God will make you follow a bunch of rules”.
Still no. Not at all.
The problem here is the heart of the reason many people won’t even consider Jesus. They’ve been taught, often by well-meaning parents (I share some guilt here), sincere churches, and Christian leaders, that following certain rules is something God requires in order for Him for us to come to Him.
If you have that impression, please let me apologize for my own part in it. And please let me tell you, in all sincerity, that many people who love Jesus dearly also made that same error and unintentionally pushed others away from the Christ that they meant to attract people to.
God Welcomes You as You Are
God invites everyone, no matter what rules they have broken, to come to Him. There is no restriction on who can look to Jesus for salvation.
And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
-Luke 5:30-32 ESV
Ok, if the term “sinners” puts you off then do me a small favor and let it go for right now. Here is the point. Jesus told the people that He came specifically for those who were not already close to God. He wants to help people who are NOT “religious”. He wants to help everyone who wants help. If I think I’m fine without Jesus, then He’s not going to force me to follow Him. But if I hear His call, then nothing I’ve done in my past can prevent me from responding to Him. He welcomes me as I am. He welcomes you as you are.
Ok, But What About After That?
Perhaps you’ve already thought ahead. You may be saying to yourself, “I get that. Anyone can come to Jesus. But if you want to follow Him THEN He’s going to make you obey a bunch of rules.” One version of this is “Jesus loves you just as you are, but He loves you too much to leave you just as you are.”
That’s 100% true. However, we interpret it through a “rules” mindset. We reframe it as “Jesus loves you too much to let you do what you want so He’s going to force you into a mold that you are not at all interested in conforming to”.
No beloved child. That would not be love. That would be domination. That would be the husband forcing the wife to bend to his will against her better judgement or even her safety. That would be the boss forcing the employee to compromise their values to satisfy the boss’s need to rule over the employee.
That’s not how a vibrant, healthy relationship with God works at all.
And Yet There Are Commandments
But still, there are many commandments in the Bible. How then does that align with the idea that God doesn’t force us to follow rules if we want to follow Jesus? Here is how.
Truly loving someone means we commit to self-imposed rules.
Let me open this up. I’m married. Ecstatically married!! I love my wife SO very much and she loves me dearly as well. And because we love each other there are certain things we do and other things we don’t do. You know what I don’t have for my wife? A rule that says she has to be the one who almost always (99.9+% of the time) does the dishes. Can you imagine how ridiculous and unloving I would be to demand that? And yet, that’s exactly how it goes down in our relationship. Also, she doesn’t have a rule that says to me that I have to be the one who almost always (99.9+% of the time) takes out the garbage. And yet, I do. We don’t have rules about not yelling at each other, or about saying “I love you” frequently, or any of a host of other things…and yet we adhere to those behaviors without fail. Why? Because truly loving someone means we commit to self-imposed rules.
This applies to our relationship with God. Before we become Jesus followers, and even early in our journey, we may see commandments in the Bible as obligations to be fulfilled. But the truth is, if we truly love the Lord we will commit to self-imposed rules. Note the term “self-imposed”. Some self-imposed rules will be ones we make up ourselves as guardrails because we know our own preponderance to certain distractions or even specific sins. Other self-imposed rules will be based on commandments directly from the Bible. But we don’t follow those commandments out of fear or obligation.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
-John 14:15 ESV
Look carefully at that verse. It’s not “If you love me, you must keep my commandments” or “If you love me, I expect you to keep my commandments.” No, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” “You will” means you decide to do so. “You will” means because you love Jesus you choose to keep His commandments. It hearkens back to part of Joshua 24:15, “choose for yourselves”.
Your great love for your Savior will compel your desire to keep His commandments, not some set of high-pressure rules.
And We End with This
Of course, we benefit from keeping His commandments out of love. We benefit in a life with much less self-inflicted drama. We benefit in less fear, less anxiety, and greater peace. We benefit in the confidence of our Father’s love for us. Every commandment that God has included in the Bible for us to follow was included for the purpose of benefiting us or benefitting others. There are no empty or spiteful commandments.
We get great value in letting our love for Christ lead us to following self-imposed rules based on His commandments.
And so we ask one last time, does God make us follow a bunch of rules?
No child. He gives us glorious direction to grow in Him, draw closer to Him, and lead others to Him.
“The one who has my commandments and keeps them--that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him."
-John 14:21 LEB
If you have follow-up thoughts, feel free to reach out to me directly via our contact form.
Love you Jesus follower!
-Troy