I'm a rules person. I'm strict - even with myself. I'm harsh with myself. I remember when I was younger, I would read some verses in the Bible and internalize it like this: Nancy, come on. This verse just says to not gossip and the other one says to help people. Just do that today.

I saw it as a check list that I needed to complete - the most impossible check list ever! If I see the Christian life as a life of rules, it's over for me. First, that is a terrible way to live...boring...harsh. Plus, it is constant defeat because I know I won't get it right. It feels like it would be the life of misery. 

I don't want to do things because I'm told I have to. I don't think anyone does. But that is the huge component so many of us are missing when we read the Bible. We miss the love component. If Jesus is a boss....then we are just working every day. If Jesus is a dad, or a brother, or a friend...then doing things for Him is fun or worth it because there is love.

What do you think?