I wonder how many times I said that, or something similar, while my children were growing up.  It was the ultimatum that said that there would be no negotiation; this was the way it was to be.  As long as my children remained under my roof they were to abide by my authority.  After all, aren’t parents responsible to prepare and teach them for “life” and look out for their own good? 

 

Why should God feel any different?  We are given instructions on how to conduct ourselves as his children: how to live, how to love, how to worship. Can we blame him for saying, “My house – my rules”?  Unfortunately, we usually respond like our children…“but I don’t want to”.  

 

Since we are dependent upon God for our total existence, physically as well as spiritually, we should be compelled to behave as He wishes. If we are His children, we are

living in His house by faith …“His house – His rules”.  But that’s not a bad thing.  What could be better than living in the ‘house’ of God preparing for an eternal life?  

 

We asked our children to follow our rules and obey them.  Likewise, we should learn of His will and obey it – “His house His rules”.  1 John 2:24-25…“Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise that He has promised us -- eternal life.”

 

Oh yeah, included in the quote “my house, my rules”, I remember saying – “You’ll thank me one day.”

 

Col 1:12…“ giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”  Amen!