Many families enjoy playing board games. Children often make up their own rules.  In reality, we should play by the rules. There are also rules in athletic games. The girls coach at my high school expected us to know rules well; well enough to pass her written exams. I did not fare well.

Apostle Paul used athletics as a teaching tool.

“And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules (2 Timothy 2:5 NKJV).”

Sin is breaking the rules.

God gave us the Bible as a rule book. His rules, commands are fair. He tests us daily, not so much for our knowledge of the rules but for our faithfulness in following them. The key is in personally knowing His Son.

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Philippians 3:8-10 NKJV).”

Through faith, we receive the grand prize gift, eternal life.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23 NKJV).”

Published articles in Mature Living Magazine, Devotions for the Deaf, The Secret Place, Coosa Journal, Mary Hollingsworth's The One Year Devotional of Joy and Laughter, Jo Krueger's Every Day in God's Word. http://www.pamforddavis.com
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