And God said, 'Life would be so much better for those silly people if they would just keep my Rules. Oh, how much better it would be! People, just keep the Rules!'
No, that isn't from the Bible. God never said it. But there are lots of folk who act as if he did. 'Just keep the Rules!' That way of thinking might work if we all lived in an ideal world - but we don't. Ours is a very fallen world. So many things are broken. Since that's our reality, there are times when you need to break the Rules - yes, I'm talking about God's Rules. And we know that because some of the saints in Scripture did exactly that - and, believe it or not, God was okay with it.
Now, this is the place where some examples would be good. So, here's one. God was clear that the bread placed on the table in the Holy Place was to be eaten only by the priests. You can look that up in Leviticus 24.5-9. However, one of the priests gave that special bread to someone who was not a priest. He gave it to David. And you can read about that in 1 Samuel 21.1-6. Now, was this okay with God? Shouldn't he be angry since one of his Rules was being broken? Evidently not. Jesus talked about what had happened with David, and he does it in a way that makes it clear that it was the right thing to do. Take a look at Mark 2.25. David and the priest were right when they broke one of God's Rules.
Then there was the time that many in Israel celebrated the Passover, but they had not cleansed themselves as required. That is, they ate 'even though not according to the sanctuary's rules[!] of cleanness'. But God was okay with that. King Hezekiah's had prayed on their behalf. They broke a Rule, but, again, God was okay with it. You can read about it in 2 Chronicles 30.17-20.
One more - and this is a favorite of mine. You can find it in 2 Kings 5. A pagan general, Naaman, comes to God's prophet, Elisha, and he gets converted. (Yay!!) He now knows that the God of Israel is the only real God, and he says so. But there is this one thing. When he returns home to his pagan nation, there are going to be those times when he is with the king in the temple of some idol. Naaman knows that he is going to have to bow before this idol, an act of worship. So, Naaman says to Elisha, 'In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant.' And what does Elisha say in return, 'Bow to some idol?!? Not on your life!'? Actually, no. Instead, he says, 'Go in peace.' He blesses him. 'Naaman, I understand. It's okay.' God's prophet said that.
There are other examples of the Godly breaking the Rules. In fact, Jesus, himself, provides some of the best examples. But the ones I've mentioned make the point.
So, what does this mean? Ordinarily, we keep the Rules, and it's important to say that. But at the same time, we are on the lookout for those exceptions when we'll need to break one of them. There will be those times when, because of what's going on, we'll just need to break a Rule. (And the reason behind that is so that we can keep another, more important Rule. More on that another time.) But this is why some folk have such a hard time with this notion of Rule breaking. If you think this way then life is no longer neat and clean. Decisions are no longer just a matter of finding the right Rule and doing whatever it says. Life with the option - no, better: life with the necessity of breaking a Rule at times is much more difficult. It will require wisdom and developing a close relationship with the Spirit who gives that wisdom. And it means that we're going to get it wrong lots of times. We're going to make mistakes. But that's why grace is so critical to working at living a Christian life.
So, consider. Do we really have a choice in this? Rule-keeping as a way of life has been tried - and it didn't work. When Jesus walked this earth he taught the people that trying to live that way has all sorts of problems. But those very strict Rule-keepers of his day could not accept what he was saying. And doesn't Jesus make it clear that they were so very wrong?
So, always keep God's Rules - except when you shouldn't.