First Baptist Church of Herndon

Rule #2

Linda Soller | Mar 13, 2017

Last week I spoke to my rule #1 – Know the Rules. This week I would like to move on to rule #2.

Rule #2 is “if you break the rules, know you are responsible for the consequences.”  I was driving to work one morning heading east on a heavily used road that has one lane in each direction and a third lane in the middle for turning left or right. I just passed a school bus heading west when I came to a stop for a traffic light. Not twenty yards behind me the bus stopped, the sign to stop traffic swung out, and the lights flashed. There was a line of cars behind the bus. They had, no doubt, followed it along the road stopping at each side street. Then I heard multiple loud beeps. I looked in my rearview mirror and watched a white SUV pull into the turn lane and go around the stopped bus as everyone beeped their horns. The driver continued off down the road. My first thought was, “are they crazy?” Everyone reacted. What if they had hit a child? Fortunately, they did not. I shook my head in dismay. I don’t know if there will be any consequences for that driver. I do know that critical to the survival of productive healthy groups, even cultures, is the recognition of the rules they share and an understanding of consequences for those who break them.

In the Bible the rules surrounding our love for others are pretty clear. Clarity does not always mean rules are easy to follow. Sometimes rules are inconvenient, or challenging to follow, not to mention enforce. People say and do mean things and often they get away with it. Eventually they disconnect the consequences from the rule breaking. We try to teach our children not to bully, but the consequences they experience from their acts of bullying may not be a deterrent.  When those young bullies grow up to be adult bullies it’s even harder to help them see the error of their ways. Some feel because they are star athletes, talented performers, beautiful people, rich people, and so on, that the rules don’t apply to them. They break laws, and where others may be arrested they pay fines from their rather large incomes. They tweet rude mean things, and seem to feel the rules of professionalism or common courtesy don’t apply to them. With instant communication they reap instant publicity. Many have been lead to believe that any publicity is good publicity. But we know it’s only good if we, the public, allow it to benefit the person in question.

The Bible offers comfort, support, guidance, rules, and make no mistake, it addresses consequences. Do you break the rules of love?

Have a great week!     : o)  Linda

Don’t believe me? Open your Bible and read 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13.