Rules are meant to enhance the enjoyment of something.  Growing up playing basketball, I was grateful for the rules that governed the game.  Though they bound you to a rectangular area on the floor, they freed you to play together. It would have been chaos if the rule of "one ball at a time" wasn't enforced.  Or the rule of traveling was simply ignored.

These kinds of rules are a good thing.  In the Christian life there are these kinds of rules.  Rules written clearly in the Word of God.  Rules like: don't murder, don't covet, don't steal and don't commit adultery.  While they seem to prohibit action, what they actually do is liberate life.  Don't murder could be understood as--value the life of others seeing that they are made in the image of God.  Don't covet could be understood as--find contentment in what you have, especially if you have Christ.  Don't steal could be understood as--value other people's things as being their blessing from God.  Don't commit adultery could be understood as--enjoy the wife of your youth and don't destroy her heart (or husband/his heart).

 The rules that God wrote on the heart of man are other rules that promote true life.  Rules like love, humility (look up at the stars in the sky one night, try to not think of how small you are... and then tell me your heart doesn't have the rule of humility written into it), longing for relationships/community.  All of these rules are good things and it is my belief that each of these rules were written in correspondence with God's desire in the Christian life--that he or she might be conformed into the image of God. 

 All of this said, I wonder if there are some unwritten rules that we have written upon our hearts for our enjoyment, and others detriment.  Take for instance the order of a Church service.  There are times for everything within a service.  Times to stand and times to sit.  And I love many elements of this.  But what happens if the Lord leads you to stand, while everyone else is sitting?  Does this promote disorder, or discomfort?   I think that the answer to this question is situational.  I think the answer to this lies within the heart of the person standing and the sensitivity of the persons sitting.  I write all of this to say, let us, as the body of Christ, pray alongside our pastor the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24.  Asking God to show us if there are any rules in our hearts that are prohibiting us from being conformed into the image of Christ, for the sake of promoting comfort.  A comfort that is more at home conforming others into the image of me.