The Rules of Faith

I've never been one to follow the rules. It's a running joke with those closest to me: I've just always had a bit of a rebellious streak in me. I like to color outside the lines.

Funny thing is, as much as I like to think of myself as a rebel, I'm finding that I've had a fairly long list of pretty arbitrary rules I've been applying to faith: My faith and that of those around me. It's a list many will recognize because it's the same list many use. My list has included church attendance, (and that needs to be at the "right kind" of church.) The right appearance. The right doctrine. The right motives and attitudes. The right music. The right politics. And on ... and on.
As I've stepped back and begun to examine my beliefs I've found that I am guilty of applying some pretty stringent standards on those who call themselves Christians. The problem is I can't find those same standards applied in Scripture the way I've tried to apply them.
Instead, I find Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman who's got man problems: She'd been married to five of them. He forgave an adulterous woman. He healed on the Sabbath and He touched those considered to be unclean. He dared to invite "common folks" to know God.
It was all more than the "rules monitors" of His day could stand. They felt their role of "kingdom protectors" was at risk.

Everytime they pointed out the rules, Jesus pointed out God's grace. He's been doing the same with me.

Funny how He let me into the kingdom without my having an inkling of the rules, or how I am supposed to conduct myself. There was no list of rules for me, just His grace extended to me. But somehow, over the past twenty plus years, I've become the self-appointed enforcer of the rules of faith. He's been reminding me that I'm not the "keeper of His Kingdom."

The grace of God trumps all of the rules.