Read the Rules (And Play by Them)

Most people like to play games. If not board games or card games, then they like to play some kind of sport. Or they may like all three or some combination thereof. In any case, most people like to play these things that have rules attached to them.

A game isn’t really a game without rules. Some people have tried to design games without rules. Can you even think of one such “game”? Probably not. There’s a reason for that. They’re not “games” that are very popular, largely due to their lack of rules.


People like rules in games because they give structure and order to the game. You know what’s allowed and what isn’t. You also know when the game ends and who the winner is (or winners are) due to the rules.

Recently, I learned a new game called Wingspan. After playing it a few times, having been taught how to play by someone else, I decided to read through the few pages of the rules booklet myself. I quickly discovered a rule that we hadn’t been using. In effect, we were breaking that rule each time we had played. Fortunately, leaving that rule out didn’t drastically change the game, but it was still wrong to play without it.

I contend that some games rather closely parallel “real life”. There’s one in particular, called Agricola, that feels a lot like real life the more you think about it. I won’t go into the specifics here, and I know there’s one rule in particular that those who know the game will say is totally unlike real life, but that’s not the point.

The point I’m getting to is that playing games with rules - and some games more than others - is very much like “real life”.

Life has rules. God made them; he’s the Designer of the “game”. They’re in the Bible - nowhere else.

Just as you have to play by a game’s rules to win without being called a cheater, so you have to play by God’s rules for life to “win”. You can’t add your own “house rules” to his. There are specific situations that God doesn’t cover in the Bible. In such cases, you have to use the principles he gives there to make the best decision about how to “play” that you can.

Winning in life means going to heaven when you die. The one and only “rule” you have to follow to accomplish this is to believe what Jesus did for you in paying the price that God the Father required.

God’s rule in this matter is that blood had to be shed (that is, someone had to die) to make up for the rules you broke. The unusual thing about this rule is that God says only someone who is perfect can pay that price. Since you are imperfect by default from your beginning, you can’t pay that price. Jesus, being perfect, could. When Jesus did, God implemented another rule that says what Jesus did counts as if you did it.

Cool!

If you believe that, you win.

Cool!

Until it comes time for you to die, you still have to try to play by the rules. I’ve mentioned just a few of God’s rules. How will you know what the rest of them are?

Read. The. Bible.

All of it.

If you don’t have a physical Bible, get one or simply find one online. BibleGateway.com is just one place that has the full rule book.

Don’t tell me you don’t have time. That’s not the truth. That’s a lie. That’s breaking one of the rules.

Don’t tell me it’s too hard to understand. It’s not. It just isn’t. Yes, there are concepts that no one understands fully - like how God can be three Persons yet only one Being or how Jesus can be both 100% God and 100% human at the same time. I’m not saying that you’ll understand that either, but 99% of the Bible you will understand. It’s simply not that difficult. Pretending that it is, is no excuse.

I just finished reading a book about time that was probably the most difficult book I’ve ever encountered. It was far more difficult than the Bible.

I’ve read the Bible - the whole thing, not just the familiar parts - more times than I can remember. I say this not to brag but to tell you that it’s really very easy to read any and all of the Bible.

Some parts are harder than others. When you find a part that’s a little tough, look for help. What do you do when you don’t understand some other topic these days? You Google it, right? Well....?

The Bible must be your only rule book for life. It’s God’s game, so you play by his rules. You must not make other people your game designer. They can and will sometimes lead you to break God’s rules.

So I’ll say it again…

Read. The. Bible.

You’ll win.