Follow Your Own Rules
Monday, October 31, 2005 at 08:36AM Did you know (you will if you were at Northwest Church yesterday!) that the Greek words for “sure” and “certain” only show up in one verse of the Bible together? Did you know that all of their appearances in the Bible only add up to six?
Being certain means that you can’t be moved and being sure means that you are willing to die for what you are sure of. In the one verse where these two words jointly appear, they are used to define “faith.” Here is a Doug definition –
To have faith is to be willing to stake your life on what you hope for and to be unmoved by anyone even though you cannot yet see what you hope for.
It annoys me to no end when people impose rulings, judgments and ideas on others when they are not sure and certain of those ideas. Leaders are notorious for this kind of problematic imposition. They make up rules that are not good for all or good for them. Rules should be based only on what is both “sure and certain,” otherwise they are merely rules based on opinion – useless to all but the one who manipulates them.
Children face trouble when following leaders who neither follow their own rules for their children nor can justify those rules as certain and sure. “Just because I tell you…” is an adequate reason for a follower but is the least reason for that follower. It is perfectly fine for a leader to make impositions because that is one of the functions of leaders. However, leaders should be able to give “sure and certain” facts to back up the rules, judgments and idea that they impose.
What would families be like with only “sure and certain” rules that were consistent and worth dying for? What would the workplace and organization be like if we as leaders only imposed rules that we were sure and certain of? What would the world be like if the only rules were the ones that the rule maker was willing to die for?
Seems like Jesus Christ already did that – He died for the very rules that He made. He died to set everyone free from the penalty of sin (death) that He ruled.
Follow your own rules!
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