The Creator Makes the Rules

The Creator Makes the Rules

Mooster: Hello everyone! Wasn’t it a beautiful day today! Spring is definitely on its way. Hey…what’s that thing? I wonder who made that. Hey MOE! Moe, come out here – I want to ask you something!

Moe:  (behind curtain)(I’m coming, I’m coming)

Mooster: Hurry it up there …

Moe: Okay – Hi everybody! What did you want to ask me, Mooster?

Mooster: Well, I notice there is a large…..something….sitting on the floor. What is that?

Moe: That? Oh! That’s my new super fantastic elastic bubble gum machine!

Mooster: Really.

Moe: Yep! You know, you place all your sugar and syrup and stuff in one end and a nice, big, juicy, fantastic piece of bubble gum comes out the other end. I got it for my birthday and I just got finished putting it together. Isn’t it great?! What do you think?

Mooster: Uhm……does it actually work?

Moe: Wellllll…no.

Mooster: Why not?

Moe:  I guess the manufacturer must have forgotten some parts.

Mooster: Uh-huh. You really think that’s the reason?

Moe: Has to be. I tried to add some of my own parts to it to see if that would fix it, but it didn’t seem to help much.

Mooster: Uh, Moe, did you follow the directions?

Moe: You mean the instruction booklet?

Mooster: Yes, Moe, the instruction booklet. Did you read it and do what it said?

Moe: Instructions are highly overrated. A cute, adorable, and HIGHLY intellectual monkey such as myself would not have to use “instruction booklets” if the manufacturer had simply created their product correctly.

Mooster: Moe, following the creator’s instructions has nothing to do with whether or not the user is cute, or adorable, or a monkey! And you can’t just go adding your own pieces to it, either. That’s not going to make it work any better.

Moe: Well, if you are so smart, what would you suggest?

Mooster: I would have read the instructions. I think you’ve ruined it now. It will never make bubblegum, unless you can disassemble it and put it back together the right way.

You know, your um, “creation” out there reminds me a lot of how people think of God and His instructions to us.

Moe: Really? How’s that?

Mooster: Do you remember in the Bible how God created everything?

Moe: Oh yes – God created the heavens and the earth! In six days, He made light and darkness, seas and land, trees and grass, fish, birds, animals, … a-DOR-able cute little monkeys like me…. and man!  And then on the 7^th day He rested. Guess He was pretty tired!

Mooster: Hahahah, no Moe, God wasn’t tired. He doesn’t get tired! But He was setting an example for us – that we should set aside one day a week to rest and worship Him. But otherwise, you got all the rest of that right! God created everything. And He gave Adam just one rule. Do you remember what that was?

 Moe: Yep – He said not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But then the snake deceived Eve and she gave the fruit to Adam and he ate it and sin was passed to all mankind!

Mooster: That’s right, Moe. Good job!  

Moe: But how does that remind you of my bubble gum machine disaster?

Mooster: Well, God created everything. If you make, or create, a new game for all your friends to play, you have to make rules too, right?

Moe: Well, yeah, or else there would be no way to enjoy the game!

Mooster: Exactly! God gave Adam just one rule, so that Adam could enjoy the garden.

Moe: Oh, I see where you are going. Adam didn’t obey that one rule, and he got kicked out of the garden. Then he and Eve couldn’t enjoy God’s garden of Eden anymore. I bet they missed eating all those yummy bananas, too.

Mooster: That’s right. And they also forfeited a lot of other things. And because Adam sinned against God by not obeying the rules of the garden, sinned was passed down to all of us. Now we are all born under the curse of Adam’s sin.

Moe: And we can’t work our way to heaven.

Mooster: That’s right, too, Moe! Just like you tried to “add” some of your own parts to the bubble gum machine, we can’t be adding our own rules to God’s rules. He said there was just one way to heaven – we have to be born again. But a lot of people try adding their own ideas in order to go to heaven. But that won’t work. They have to follow God’s way or they won’t get to heaven.

Moe: Hey, I just thought of another example!

Mooster: Really? What’s that?

Moe: Well, God gave Moses the 10 Commandments for the children of Israel to live by. He gave them so that the people could follow them and obey God.

Mooster: That’s right, Moe. Sometimes people think that God shouldn’t have given mankind those Ten Commandments. They say, “We should be allowed to do whatever we want. Who is God to tell us what to do?” They don’t understand that the Bible is our instruction book for life!

Moe:  But God has every right to tell people how they are to live. He created them! The Creator gets to make the rules.

Mooster: Yes, Moe…. just like the manufacturer gets to write the instructions for your bubble gum machine.

Moe: Yeah…I see that now. I guess even highly intellectual monkeys such as myself can make a mistake or two.

Mooster: Uh, yeah. And when you didn’t follow the instructions, you made a mess. When we forget God’s commandments, we have a mess!

Moe: That’s true. One of the commandments says that we should not steal. Can you imagine what life would be like if everyone stole things from everyone else? That would be terrible!

Mooster: True. How about the one that says we are not to kill? It’s horrible when we read in the papers of someone killing someone else. It’s so sad! Can you imagine if everyone just went around killing people?? That would be catastrophic! You wouldn’t be able to go anywhere or do anything for fear of your life!

  

Moe: And I would hate it if God hadn’t said that adults are not to commit adultery. Boys and girls – adultery is when a mom or a dad decides to have another man or woman and treat them like their husband or wife. That’s not right! I would hate for my mommy to just go and get another man instead of my daddy. And I would hate it if my daddy went and got another woman instead of my mommy. Imagine if that happened all the time with every family! No one would ever be happy.

Mooster:  See, that’s what people don’t understand. God gave us rules to live by because He loves us and He wants us to live in a safe, healthy environment. When we forsake, or turn away from the rules that He has made, life becomes chaos. That means there’s no order. No sense of right and wrong. And then people are sad.

Moe: Wow – that is so simple, Mooster!

Mooster: Well, it sounds simple, and God made it to be simple. But people make everything all complicated. They want to do things their own way, not God’s way.

Moe: Well, why didn’t God just MAKE everyone have to do things His way?

Mooster: Moe, God made us with a free will. That way we can choose to love and obey God … or not. God didn’t want a bunch of robots. If He had wanted robots, He would have created robots. He wanted people that would choose to love Him. And He understood that sadly, some people would never choose to love Him, and that they would spend eternity away from Him. But it’s their choice.

Moe:  But we still have to answer to God.

Mooster: Yes we do. The Bible says in Romans 14:12 “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” We will each have to stand before God one day. That’s one of His rules.

Moe: But if we have Christ as our Savior, Jesus will be standing with us, right?

Mooster: Yes, Moe, Jesus will be our advocate with the Father, if we have asked Him to save us and forgive us of our sins.

Moe: Well, I have learned a lot today. Do you think my gum machine has any chance at all?

Mooster: Do you still have the instructions?

Moe: Yes. I didn’t throw them away.

  

Mooster: Well, after church, let’s take that mess apart and read the instructions. We will see if we can still make it the way the manufacturer – the machines’ creator – wanted it put together. Maybe then it will work.

Moe: Okay, thanks, Mooster!

Mooster: Boys and girls, remember that God loves each one of us. He would never tell us to do things that would hurt us. All His words and instructions to us in the Bible are there for our own good. Following God’s rules doesn’t mean we’ll never have troubles or sorrows again in life, but it does mean we can have peace and joy and God’s blessing on our lives. Have a good week!

Moe: Bye!