2
Timothy 2:3-7 Share
in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in
civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An
athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the
hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over
what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Like other sports, rules are the backbone of
baseball. Without them, the game would quickly turn into chaos. The rules must
be so thoroughly understood by an umpire that they are applied instinctively –
often in a split second.
All of us have unwritten rules in life. We do things
instinctively each day. Some rules are known to us and easily shared with
others. Then there are rules less known even to us that we obey. We get up at
specific times and practice certain rituals each morning. Throughout the day we
conduct ourselves according to these rules.
As Christians we follow Spirit-enabled rules, too.
Such obedience creates relationships that create, redeem, sustain and transform
the life that God invites us into with Christ. Rules, unlike a set of laws that
forbid us to do certain things, a rule of life is a set of guidelines that
support or enable us to do the things we want and need to do.
Like
individuals, Christ-centered organizations need a central rule for
organizational life. Like a trellis that provides support for a plant, guiding
its growth in a certain direction, organizations need to adopt a rule to
communicate its intentions and identify the way they want to function and grow
in fulfilling their mission.
Christ-centered biblical rules will ensure
consistent practices which glorify God. When financial or other pressures come
like a flood, an organization needs to stay the course following its biblical
rule, the mission statement for everyone.
