The Bible is not a rule book; if it was, it would be continually changing, what might be a rule for one culture is not for another. Besides, rules don’t require thought only obedience, and you can get that from a robot.
Principles, on the other hand, are timeless, they are not out to get us, they can’t provide shortcuts and quick fixes. They don’t depend on others’ behavior, the environment, or the current fad for their validity. Principles don’t die. They aren’t here one day and gone the next. They can’t be destroyed by fire, earthquakes, or theft.
Principles are deep fundamental truths that originate from God’s Word. They become tightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency, beauty, and strength through the fabric of our lives. When our lives are founded on God’s enduring principles of love, kindness, integrity, righteousness etc… When our lives, marriage, family, and all relationships are based and shaped by His principles, our life takes on meaning. God’s principles are bigger than circumstances. Thousands of years of history has seen them triumph time and time again. Even more important, as we live by them, we can become secure that they will validate our lives.
And what can be a greater principle to live by than this verse? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind and all your strength and your neighbor as yourself”. Mark 12:30-31. And the Golden Rule, Matthew 7:12. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” These two principles lived by will guarantee a great life!