For Our Good, Mark 2:24-28 NKJV

And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

     A lot of times we think that God imposes harsh and strict rules on us and that He hovers over us waiting for us to mess up, or watching mercilessly for an infringement of His law. This is the idea that the Pharisees had at least. God had given them one law about the Sabbath: observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
     The Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week on which God rested from all the work He had done during the six days of creation. Thus He appointed it a day of rest for all mankind, that man would not have to carry a burden on that day, but would be able to rest and recuperate and be rejuvinated. But the Pharisees had turned the Sabbath "rest" into something that was hardly rest. They made additional books of hundreds and hundreds of additional rules that expressed what they believed it meant to "observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy", to not carry a burden. Their rules were so all-inclusive that a person had to be afraid to carry their bed (as Jesus had said, "rise, take up your bed and walk," to those He healed), that you couldn't walk more than a certain distance without fear of violation of the Sabbath, and that you couldn't even pick a grain of wheat, rub it in your hands and eat it without, in their opinion, violating the law of God.
     But Jesus went out of His way it seems to prove that their interpretation of the Sabbath was wrong. The Sabbath, He said, was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Pharisees had made all sorts of rules that put people under the heaviest of burdens (rather than freeing them to rest) on the Sabbath. But Jesus reminds them that the Sabbath was made for the well being of man, not the harm of man, and that it's the heart of the law that matters, not the law itself. The heart of the Sabbath is rest and peace for man. Therefore, if a man is going to go hungry or if a man's donkey fell in a well or if a man is hurting and in agony, it is perfectly acceptable in God's sight to alleviate that burden so that the man can be made to rest.
     Jesus proves this point by using king David as an example. It was not lawful for any to eat of the showbread but the priests, but because David and those with him were famished (for they were fleeing the enemy, I believe), God allowed David, for his own benefit and the benefit of those with him, to eat of the bread to be revived and sustained. God is more concerned about the person than the rule, and in fact, the rule was made only for the benefit of the people in the first place. Because of this truth, it is not likely that there should be any reason for one to break one of God's rules. We shouldn't look for an excuse to break God's rules (because this isn't love, and this violates the whole principle that God wants what's best for us), but seek to obey what He has told us, knowing it's for our own good.

     There are times in life when we groan and complain about something we are told to do, something we are made aware of that we have to change about ourselves that, in our minds, will cause us great discomfort and inconvenience. For example, perhaps we are told (girls) that our wardrobe is too revealing and that it has to change so as to not cause our brothers in Christ to stumble into sin. As in my own case, I have made effort to dress quite conservatively, trying to make sure that I don't stumble or offend anyone. And yet I am told, it must change. The next step, in my mind, is looking goofy, being uncomfortable, not being able to look "cute", and being inconvenienced to have to go find clothes that fit into all these categories. My own wardrobe seems like a closet full of the tools of Satan, and I cringe at having to get dressed because I think that I have to wear some sort of bag to keep people from stumbling. My perceptions of modesty were wrong, in that they were from a girl's perspective and not a guy's.
     But the man is not made for the law, but law for man. I don't have to dress more modestly because it's a rule, but because it's going to benefit my brothers in Christ and keep their minds out of the gutter. Therefore it should be a joy to me to be able to keep others from sin, and I shouldn't worry about my own discomforts and such. But yet, in the meantime, I cannot afford new clothes, I cannot do anything about the problems I face, and I am solely at the mercy of God. God doesn't expect me to wear the same shirt all week long, because that's silly, but to do the best with what I've got. God is not going to break a person in two when they have no ability to completely follow what He has asked them to do. He does ask, however, that people be willing and desirous to obey Him, and to do so with joy.