None of the parents wanted their children to play with Huck because he was a bad example and led them into all kinds of trouble. Every boy in the town, however, played with Huck every chance he got.
I laughed as I listened to the story. I mentally shook my head at how the boys envied Huck so intensely. They had no idea that Huck didn’t have a parent who cared about him or one who took the time to teach him life lessons. All they could see was that Huck had no rules and seemed to have all the fun. They compared that to the awful, freedom-encroaching rules that they lived under, and they chafed. They didn’t realize that their parents loved them enough to set limits. That their parents were wiser and knew how poor choices would eventually ruin their children’s lives if left unchecked.
My laughter soon died, though, at another thought. How many of God’s children do the same thing? He gave us a few rules to live by, but rather than accept that they are good for us, we chafe. We think we are missing out on all the fun that others seem to be having. When we are too prideful to admit that God is wiser than we are, we fail to see that His rules are only to protect us from poor choices that will ruin our lives.
