It has been my observation over the years that there are some people who have great difficulty in following rules. It do not know why, maybe something about their personality or character, but they do have the problem.

I have been reminded of this again by a couple of incidents. Most recently my daughter was telling me of the difficulty she has on her job of getting people to follow directions. She is involved in solving computer program problems. They will call her for solutions and then they will not follow instructions. Often it is the same people over and over.

In another instance a preaching brother of mine told me about editing a paper in which the articles were to be of certain length. While the majority "followed the rule" there were always those who sent in articles too long.

Now, whether or not the specific individuals mentioned above have this problem I do not know. I do know that both illustrate my point. Do you have problems with following the rules? Maybe you have never thought about it. Do you find yourself usually thinking you know a better way to do it? In following certain procedures do you usually have to change them just a little? Think about it.

I know all of us do such things from time to time, so those questions hit us all. But what concerns me is such can become a habit and affect our attitude and obedience of God's rules. We get to thinking we can alter this a little and ignore something else a little and it won't hurt anything. And when we do such, nothing "zaps" us, so we get careless, perhaps indifferent.

Ignoring the rules of the world brings only worldly consequences. But ignoring the rules of God brings eternal consequences. We need to carefully, thoughtfully consider that.

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matt. 7:21). Acceptable service to God is based on the doing of his will and not ours. Many think otherwise. But recognizing him as Lord is not sufficient. We have to do his will. That is what the Scriptures teach and that is the way it is. We must "follow the rules"!

Guardian of Truth XXXIII: 15, p. 462
August 3, 1989