Whose Rules Do You Play By

Was recently reading an extract from an interview Michael Parkinson did with the Poet W.H. Auden. There, as part of his presentation, although actually talking about the rules of poetry, Mr Auden said: “After all, everyone knows if you play a game, you can’t play it without rules. You can make the rules you like, but your whole fun and freedom comes from working within them. Why should poetry be any different?”
This of course is very true of everything in life, and my mind went back to earlier days when we used to play backyard Cricket. Either as a kid myself or with my kids. Before every game, one had to define or at least declare, the rules, which sometimes changed depending where you played and depending on how much space you had to play in. {Generally, the basic rules were “tippity run” (hit it and you have to run); in the wood pile, 4 runs; over the fence or in the creek, 6 runs and you are out; lost ball, 6 runs and out etc.}
Again, although the rules would occasionally change because of different circumstances, once those rules were established, we usually had lots of fun. I said usually, because although we had pre-agreed rules, there were often disputes about who applied the rules during the game. Often with one player saying the other is out and the other saying no.
Funny isn’t it, how we can agree to the rules before the game, but as the game progresses, we want to modify, and even in some cases nullify the rules when it suits us, and only follow them fully when it benefits us most.
Sadly many who call themselves Christian do the same thing. They claim to live and play within God’s rules and by His rulebook the Bible, but then as their lives progress, they (Should I say we,) often want to change the rules and the word of God, at least for our own relief and benefit, even if not for others.
So today I would encourage us all to truly decide whose rules we are really going to live by now? God’s or our own? Over to you now.