A lot of people walked away from church because it felt like the whole thing was about rules.
Do this. Don’t do that. Dress right. Vote right. Talk right. Believe right.
Break those rules and you were made to feel like an outsider. So you became one.
Or maybe you didn’t walk away from church; maybe you’re still there, doing all the church things.
But you’re feeling exhausted. Like you’re always playing catch-up, always coming from behind.
You learned to follow the rules so well. You know the right answers. You’re pretty sure you know what a “good Christian” looks like, and you’re trying to make sure that’s what you look like.
But underneath all that, there’s still be this nagging fear: Am I doing enough? Am I doing the right things? Is God disappointed in me?
You’re not sure you are enough, so you’re going to make darn sure you do enough.
Two kinds of people, trapped by the exact same thing. Same misunderstanding, but with different approaches to resolving it: one walks away, the other stays.
This isn’t a new thing; it happened in the early church, too.
That’s why the words of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians still hit so hard: rules were never meant to be the at center of our lives. Here’s what he had to say about it:
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
~Colossians 2:16-19
See what he did there?
Paul is reminding the Colossians that being connected with Jesus is first and foremost about believing in Jesus. There’s nothing we can add to that, nothing we do that can make us “more Christian.” And he calls out anyone who says otherwise.
He isn’t saying that rules are inherently bad. They can be useful: exposing what’s broken, showing us where we need help. But they were never meant to save us.
Only Jesus can do that.
Paul calls the rules “a shadow” and reminds us of the reality that’s only found in Jesus.
That matters because a lot of us still live like our standing with God depends on the things we do. And many of us have walked away from a community that makes us feel that way.
Some of us try to prove ourselves to God. Others keep God at a distance because we assume we could never measure up anyway.
Both ways of responding are built on the same assumption: that the relationship depends on us.
The gospel says otherwise.
Your relationship with God is not built on your ability to get it right all the time, to do enough, to do more. It’s built on Christ and what he did.
You can follow every rule and still miss Jesus.
And in the same way, you can have a messy story, a complicated past, a lot of doubts, and still be welcomed by Him.
There is no rule you could keep that would make God love you more. And there is no rule you could break that would make Him love you less.
That doesn’t mean how we live is irrelevant. It means obedience becomes something different: not how you earn God’s love, but how you respond to it.
Prayer, Scripture, generosity, confession, serving others—these aren’t ways to prove yourself. They’re ways to stay close to the One who already loves you.
For the person burned by church: maybe you’ve spent years assuming God is just another voice demanding more from you. He isn’t asking you to clean yourself up first. He’s inviting you to come near.
For the person who takes pride in doing everything right: maybe the bigger danger is not breaking the rules, but trusting them more than you trust Jesus.
So maybe the better question is not, am I doing enough? Or, am I doing the right things?
Maybe the better question is, am I getting closer to Jesus?
Presence, not performance.
Trusting, not proving.
Not rules at the center, Christ at the center.
Because following the rules can’t get you to Jesus.
And they can’t keep you from Him, either.
Photo by Cam Bradford on Unsplash
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