Principles: Rules for Life
“In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of style, swim with the current” (Thomas Jefferson).
A principle is a fundamental truth, belief, or rule that serves as a guide for behavior.
Its purpose is to provide a standard for making decisions, evaluating actions, and guiding behavior. For example, love, compassion self-control, justice, honesty, and integrity. In the Bible, compassion is beyond just feeling empathy, it literally means ‘to suffer together’.
Biblical principles give us new lenses through which to see everything. Rules, laws, regulations, decrees, and ordinances are divine principles to guide the moral, spiritual, and social life of His people. For example, the biblical principle of sowing and reaping says that what one sows, one will ultimately reap - this applies to both positive and negative actions. Sowing to "please the flesh" results in "destruction," while sowing to "please the Spirit" results in "eternal life" (Galatians 6:8, Hosea 8:7, 2 Corinthians 9:6). Proverbs 23:7 says: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. But, one can be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:12).
Spiritual Meaning of Principles: To not know God’s principles is to not know Him
Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
keep the time of their coming,
but my people know not
the rules of the Lord ( Jeremiah 8:7)
Relationship with God
In the Bible, the fundamental principle is that we are created in God’s image to have a relationship with God, which goes beyond intellectual facts to an experiential heart knowledge of God (John 17:3, Hosea 4:6) and serving God. Each one is called to live according to God’s kingdom principles, laws, rules, decrees, and requirements (Jeremiah 8:7). By living according to God’s principles, one has eternal life, not just as a future reward, but a present reality that starts when someone believes in Jesus and acts on His message (John 17:3).
Jesus said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it”(Matthew 7:13). The narrow gate emphasizes the difficulty of the path to salvation which requires obedience to God’s principles and commandments. The wider and broad gate symbolizes the easy, popular path that many choose – worldly principles, which ultimately leads to spiritual ruin and destruction.
