THE benefit of rules
Playing a confusing game called Mao
www.christianlivingmag.com
FREE Bibles • Pray for U.S. Armed Forces
Scott Riggan lives with his family on a small ranch in Emmett. He recorded a new album in 2021 titled “Beautiful and Terrible.” Go to scottriggan.com for more information.
Risen!!
Full Service Firearm Store
2809 Garrity Blvd. • Nampa, ID 83687
FREE Bibles • Pray for U.S. Armed Forces
By Scott Riggan At a party a few years ago, I got roped into playing a bizarre card game called “Mao”. There are a lot of rules to this game, but the first rule is that, if you’ve never played before, no one can tell you the rules. You observe the game being played, and when it’s your turn, you try to guess how you should play your cards. If you guess right, that’s great. If not, you get penalized. Eventually you figure out, for example, that anytime a spade is played you have to say aloud “Queen of Spades” or “Five of Spades”, or that when an ace is played the next player is skipped. And anytime you mess up, the dealer penalizes you by giving you a card and telling you something like “you failed to clap three times after playing a red card…” This is how you learn Scott Riggan what the rules are. I’m not making this up, I promise. It’s a game with crazy rules that you have to figure out and then remember – and with each hand there are new unspoken rules that you have to also somehow guess. Sound fun to you? Imagine what it would be like if life were “played” like a game of Mao. You’d know there’s a set of rules, but you’d have to try to figure them out as you go. Sometimes your guesses would be correct, sometimes not. Either way you’d have to face the consequences – because, after all, ignorance of the law is no excuse. A game like Mao reinforces, in my mind, how we benefit from If you have found this or another article clear rules. When we have boundaries, we don’t have to wonder or guess – we know how the game is played. If I know, for valuable, please consider helping us example, that it’s against the law to walk out of the convenience bring stories like this to our community store without paying for the Snickers in my pocket, I don’t have a dilemma – I know stealing is wrong. by supporting Christian Living In Romans chapter 7, the Apostle Paul declares that, through Magazine, a 501(c)3 ministry, at Christ, “We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the ChristianLivingmag.com written code.” Does this mean the law has no value to us? Paul continues: “I FREE Bibles • Pray y for U.S. Armed Forces would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet’.” (Romans 7:7) So there’s no denying that “law” has value. It defines what “Our Guns Are More Fun” pleases and displeases God. But in Christ, I am under grace, not law; my standing with God doesn’t hinge on my ability to stay He’s Not within the lines. Here… So I think what it comes down to is this: • Under the law, we were required to meticulously obey the rules, and offer sacrifices to “pay” for inevitable failures. • Under “the new way of the Spirit” our desire is to please God and, as a result, we want our lives to delight Him. I won’t steal that Snickers. Not because the law restricts me, but He Is because stealing and coveting displease God. I choose to obey out of love and gratitude, not out of fear of the consequence of Hallelujah! lawbreaking. Visit our friendly, helpful, experienced sales team. What a relief that following God isn’t like playing Mao – it’s not We can find the right fit for you! a guessing game, and what pleases Him is clearly revealed. n www.armageddonarmory.com • (208) 465-3577 FREE Bibles • Pray for U.S. Armed Forces
Christian Living | March / April 2022 43
